Identifying one or more substitute automated customized food generation machines for generating one or more substitute customized food items

ABSTRACT

Computationally implemented methods and systems include acquiring user preference information of a user that indicates one or more customized food preferences of the user including at least one or more ingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one or more ingredients; determining that there is no capable automated customized food generation machine present in nearby vicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one or more customized food items in compliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user; and identifying one or more substitute automated customized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user that are able to currently generate at least one substitute customized food item that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

If an Application Data Sheet (ADS) has been filed on the filing date ofthis application, it is incorporated by reference herein. Anyapplications claimed on the ADS for priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119, 120,121, or 365(c), and any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of such applications, are also incorporated byreference, including any priority claims made in those applications andany material incorporated by reference, to the extent such subjectmatter is not inconsistent herewith.

The present application is related to and/or claims the benefit of theearliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listedapplication(s) (the “Priority Applications”), if any, listed below(e.g., claims earliest available priority dates for other thanprovisional patent applications or claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e)for provisional patent applications, for any and all parent,grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of the Priorityapplication(s)). In addition, the present application is related to the“Related Applications,” if any, listed below.

PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

The present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/145,864, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORPROVIDING CUSTOMIZED PACKAGINGS FOR CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEMS THAT WERECUSTOMIZED BASED, AT LEAST IN PART, ON CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEM INTEGRITYPREFERENCE, naming Pablos Holman, Son Hong, Roderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y.Ishikawa, Jordin T. Kare, Max R. Levchin, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Robert C.Petroski, Clarence T. Tegreene, Charles Whitmer, Lowell L. Wood, Jr.,and Victoria Y. H. Wood, as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2013 with attorneydocket no. 0913-002-007-000000, which is currently co-pending or is anapplication of which a currently co-pending application is entitled tothe benefit of the filing date, and which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/144,163, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORPROVIDING CUSTOMIZED PACKAGINGS FOR CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEMS THAT WERECUSTOMIZED BASED, AT LEAST IN PART, ON CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEM INTEGRITYPREFERENCE, naming Pablos Holman, Son Hong, Roderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y.Ishikawa, Jordin T. Kare, Max R. Levchin, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Robert C.Petroski, Clarence T. Tegreene, Charles Whitmer, Lowell L. Wood, Jr.,and Victoria Y. H. Wood, as inventors, filed 30 Dec. 2013 with attorneydocket no. 0913-002-002-000000.

The present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/176,408, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORPROVIDING CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEMS THAT ARE CUSTOMIZED BASED, AT LEAST INPART, ON CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEM INTEGRITY PREFERENCE, naming PablosHolman, Son Hong, Roderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y. Ishikawa, Jordin T. Kare,Max R. Levchin, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, MarkA. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Robert C. Petroski, Clarence T.Tegreene, Charles Whitmer, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., and Victoria Y. H. Wood,as inventors, filed 10 Feb. 2014 with attorney docket no.0913-002-008-000000, which is currently co-pending or is an applicationof which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefitof the filing date, and which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/175,416, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORPROVIDING CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEMS THAT ARE CUSTOMIZED BASED, AT LEAST INPART, ON CUSTOMIZED FOOD ITEM INTEGRITY PREFERENCE, naming PablosHolman, Son Hong, Roderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y. Ishikawa, Jordin T. Kare,Max R. Levchin, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, MarkA. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Robert C. Petroski, Clarence T.Tegreene, Charles Whitmer, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., and Victoria Y. H. Wood,as inventors, filed 7 Feb. 2014 with attorney docket no.0913-002-003-000000.

The present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/200,514, entitled DIRECTING ONE OR MOREUSERS TO ONE OR MORE AUTOMATED CUSTOMIZED FOOD GENERATION MACHINES,naming Pablos Holman, Son Hong, Roderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y. Ishikawa,Jordin T. Kare, Max R. Levchin, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, RobertW. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Robert C. Petroski,Clarence T. Tegreene, Charles Whitmer, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., and VictoriaY. H. Wood, as inventors, filed 7 Mar. 2014 with attorney docket no.0913-002-009-000000, which is currently co-pending or is an applicationof which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefitof the filing date, and which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/199,667, entitled DIRECTING ONE OR MORE USERS TOONE OR MORE AUTOMATED CUSTOMIZED FOOD GENERATION MACHINES, naming PablosHolman, Son Hong, Roderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y. Ishikawa, Jordin T. Kare,Max R. Levchin, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, MarkA. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Robert C. Petroski, Clarence T.Tegreene, Charles Whitmer, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., and Victoria Y. H. Wood,as inventors, filed 6 Mar. 2014 with attorney docket no.0913-002-004-000000.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

None as of the filing date.

The United States Patent Office (USPTO) has published a notice to theeffect that the USPTO's computer programs require that patent applicantsreference both a serial number and indicate whether an application is acontinuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parentapplication. Stephen G. Kunin, Benefit of Prior-Filed Application, USPTOOfficial Gazette Mar. 18, 2003. The USPTO further has provided forms forthe Application Data Sheet which allow automatic loading ofbibliographic data but which require identification of each applicationas a continuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parentapplication. The present Applicant Entity (hereinafter “Applicant”) hasprovided above a specific reference to the application(s) from whichpriority is being claimed as recited by statute. Applicant understandsthat the statute is unambiguous in its specific reference language anddoes not require either a serial number or any characterization, such as“continuation” or “continuation-in-part,” for claiming priority to U.S.patent applications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Applicantunderstands that the USPTO's computer programs have certain data entryrequirements, and hence Applicant has provided designation(s) of arelationship between the present application and its parentapplication(s) as set forth above and in any ADS filed in thisapplication, but expressly points out that such designation(s) are notto be construed in any way as any type of commentary and/or admission asto whether or not the present application contains any new matter inaddition to the matter of its parent application(s).

If the listings of applications provided above are inconsistent with thelistings provided via an ADS, it is the intent of the Applicant to claimpriority to each application that appears in the Priority Applicationssection of the ADS and to each application that appears in the PriorityApplications section of this application.

All subject matter of the Priority Applications and the RelatedApplications and of any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of the Priority Applications and the RelatedApplications, including any priority claims, is incorporated herein byreference to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistentherewith.

SUMMARY

In one or more various aspects, a method includes, but is not limitedto, acquiring user preference information of a user that indicates oneor more customized food preferences of the user including at least oneor more ingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one ormore ingredients, determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user; and identifying one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user. In various implementations, at least oneof the above recited operations is performed by a machine or article ofmanufacture. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects aredescribed in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of thedisclosure set forth herein.

In one or more various aspects, one or more related systems may beimplemented in machines, compositions of matter, or manufactures ofsystems, limited to patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101. Theone or more related systems may include, but are not limited to,circuitry and/or programming for effecting the herein-referenced methodaspects. The circuitry and/or programming may be virtually anycombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware configured to effectthe herein-referenced method aspects depending upon the design choicesof the system designer, and limited to patentable subject matter under35 USC 101.

In one or more various aspects, a system includes, but is not limitedto, means for acquiring user preference information of a user thatindicates one or more customized food preferences of the user includingat least one or more ingredient integrity preferences related tointegrity of one or more ingredients, means for determining that thereis no capable automated customized food generation machine present innearby vicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items in compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user and means for identifying one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user that are able to currently generate at leastone substitute customized food item that is only in partial compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user. Inaddition to the foregoing, other system aspects are described in theclaims, drawings, and text forming a part of the disclosure set forthherein.

In one or more various aspects, a system includes, but is not limitedto, circuitry for acquiring user preference information of a user thatindicates one or more customized food preferences of the user includingat least one or more ingredient integrity preferences related tointegrity of one or more ingredients, circuitry for determining thatthere is no capable automated customized food generation machine presentin nearby vicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items in compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user; and circuitry for identifying one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user that are able to currently generate at leastone substitute customized food item that is only in partial compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user. Inaddition to the foregoing, other system aspects are described in theclaims, drawings, and text forming a part of the disclosure set forthherein.

In one or more various aspects, a computer program product, comprising asignal bearing non-transitory storage medium, bearing one or moreinstructions including, but not limited to, acquiring user preferenceinformation of a user that indicates one or more customized foodpreferences of the user including at least one or more ingredientintegrity preferences related to integrity of one or more ingredients,determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in nearby vicinity of the user that is ableto currently generate one or more customized food items in compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user, andidentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines present in the nearby vicinity of the user that are able tocurrently generate at least one substitute customized food item that isonly in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user. In addition to the foregoing, other computerprogram product aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and textforming a part of the disclosure set forth herein.

In one or more various aspects, a system includes, but is not limitedto, a user preference information obtaining module configured to obtainuser preference information of a user, the user preference informationto be obtained indicating one or more customized food preferences of theuser including at least one or more ingredient integrity preferencesrelated to integrity of one or more ingredients; a capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining moduleconfigured to determine that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user;a substitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module configured to ascertain in the nearby vicinity ofthe user presence of one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is only in partial compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user; and indicatorpresenting module configured to present one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines in response, at least in part, to the ascertainment of thepresence of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines in the nearby vicinity of the user.

In addition to the foregoing, various other method and/or system and/orprogram product aspects are set forth and described in the teachingssuch as text (e.g., claims and/or detailed description) and/or drawingsof the present disclosure.

The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications,generalizations, inclusions, and/or omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is NOT intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, features, and advantages of the devices and/or processes and/orother subject matter described herein will become apparent by referenceto the detailed description, the corresponding drawings, and/or in theteachings set forth herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

For a more complete understanding of embodiments, reference now is madeto the following descriptions taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings. The use of the same symbols in different drawings typicallyindicates similar or identical items, unless context dictates otherwise.The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description,drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments maybe utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from thespirit or scope of the subject matter presented here.

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary automated customized food generationmachine 10* that is designed to generate customized food items inaccordance with customization preferences of users.

FIG. 1B shows a user 13 in an example environment that includes multipleautomated customized food generation machines.

FIG. 1C shows a user 13 in another example environment that includesmultiple automated customized food generation machines.

FIG. 1D shows a user 13 in another example environment that includesmultiple automated customized food generation machines.

FIG. 1E shows a user 13 in another example environment that includesmultiple automated customized food generation machines.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary screen that identifies substituteautomated customized food generation machines.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary screen that provides directions to asubstitute automated customized food generation machine.

FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplary screen that shows locations ofsubstitute automated customized food generation machines on a map.

FIG. 3A shows a block diagram of a particular implementation of theautomated customized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 1A illustratedas automated customized food generation machine 10 a.

FIG. 3B shows a block diagram of another implementation of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 1A illustrated asautomated customized food generation machine 10 b.

FIG. 3C shows a block diagram of another implementation of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 1A illustrated asautomated customized food generation machine 10 c.

FIG. 3D shows a block diagram of a particular implementation of thenetwork device 12* of FIG. 1B, 1C, or 1D illustrated as network device12 a.

FIG. 3E shows a block diagram of a particular implementation of thenetwork device 12* of FIG. 1B, 1C, or 1D illustrated as network device12 b.

FIG. 4A shows another perspective of the user preference informationobtaining module 302* of FIG. 3A, 3B, 3D, or 3E (e.g., the userpreference information obtaining module 302′ of FIG. 3A, the userpreference information obtaining module 302″ of FIG. 3B, the userpreference information obtaining module 302′″ of FIG. 3D, or the userpreference information obtaining module 302″″ of FIG. 3E) in accordancewith various implementations.

FIG. 4B shows another perspective of the capable automated customizedfood generation machine presence determining module 304* of FIG. 3A, 3B,3D, or 3E (e.g., the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining module 304′ of FIG. 3A, the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determining module304″ of FIG. 3B, the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining module 304′″ of FIG. 3D, or the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determining module304″″ of FIG. 3E) in accordance with various implementations.

FIG. 4C shows another perspective of the substitute automated customizedfood generation machine presence ascertaining module 306* of FIG. 3A,3B, 3D, or 3E (e.g., the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306′ of FIG. 3A, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306″ of FIG. 3B, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306′″ of FIG. 3D, or thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306″″ of FIG. 3E) in accordance with variousimplementations.

FIG. 4D shows another perspective of the indicator presenting module308* of FIG. 3A, 3B, 3D, or 3E (e.g., the indicator presenting module308′ of FIG. 3A, the indicator presenting module 308″ of FIG. 3B, theindicator presenting module 308′″ of FIG. 3D, or the indicatorpresenting module 308″″ of FIG. 3E) in accordance with variousimplementations.

FIG. 5 is a high-level logic flowchart of a process, e.g., operationalflow 500, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6A is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the user preference information acquiring operation502 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6B is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the user preference information acquiring operation502 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6C is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the user preference information acquiring operation502 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6D is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the user preference information acquiring operation502 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7A is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining operation 504 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7B is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining operation 504 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7C is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining operation 504 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7D is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining operation 504 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8A is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8B is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8C is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8D is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8E is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a high-level logic flowchart of another process, e.g.,operational flow 900, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 10A is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depictingalternate implementations of the indicator presenting operation 908 ofFIG. 9.

FIG. 10B is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depictingalternate implementations of the indicator presenting operation 908 ofFIG. 9.

FIG. 10C is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depictingalternate implementations of the indicator presenting operation 908 ofFIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar or identical components oritems, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodimentsdescribed in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are notmeant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and otherchanges may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of thesubject matter presented here.

The claims, description, and drawings of this application may describeone or more of the instant technologies in operational/functionallanguage, for example as a set of operations to be performed by acomputer. Such operational/functional description in most instanceswould be understood by one skilled the art as specifically-configuredhardware (e.g., because a general purpose computer in effect becomes aspecial purpose computer once it is programmed to perform particularfunctions pursuant to instructions from program software).

Importantly, although the operational/functional descriptions describedherein are understandable by the human mind, they are not abstract ideasof the operations/functions divorced from computational implementationof those operations/functions. Rather, the operations/functionsrepresent a specification for the massively complex computationalmachines or other means. As discussed in detail below, theoperational/functional language must be read in its proper technologicalcontext, i.e., as concrete specifications for physical implementations.

The logical operations/functions described herein are a distillation ofmachine specifications or other physical mechanisms specified by theoperations/functions such that the otherwise inscrutable machinespecifications may be comprehensible to the human mind. The distillationalso allows one of skill in the art to adapt the operational/functionaldescription of the technology across many different specific vendors'hardware configurations or platforms, without being limited to specificvendors' hardware configurations or platforms.

Some of the present technical description (e.g., detailed description,drawings, claims, etc.) may be set forth in terms of logicaloperations/functions. As described in more detail in the followingparagraphs, these logical operations/functions are not representationsof abstract ideas, but rather representative of static or sequencedspecifications of various hardware elements. Differently stated, unlesscontext dictates otherwise, the logical operations/functions will beunderstood by those of skill in the art to be representative of staticor sequenced specifications of various hardware elements. This is truebecause tools available to one of skill in the art to implementtechnical disclosures set forth in operational/functional formats—toolsin the form of a high-level programming language (e.g., C, java, visualbasic, etc.), or tools in the form of Very high speed HardwareDescription Language (“VHDL,” which is a language that uses text todescribe logic circuits)—are generators of static or sequencedspecifications of various hardware configurations. This fact issometimes obscured by the broad term “software,” but, as shown by thefollowing explanation, those skilled in the art understand that what istermed “software” is a shorthand for a massively complexinterchaining/specification of ordered-matter elements. The term“ordered-matter elements” may refer to physical components ofcomputation, such as assemblies of electronic logic gates, molecularcomputing logic constituents, quantum computing mechanisms, etc.

For example, a high-level programming language is a programming languagewith strong abstraction, e.g., multiple levels of abstraction, from thedetails of the sequential organizations, states, inputs, outputs, etc.,of the machines that a high-level programming language actuallyspecifies. See, e.g., Wikipedia, High-level programming language,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-level_programming_language (as of Jun.5, 2012, 21:00 GMT). In order to facilitate human comprehension, in manyinstances, high-level programming languages resemble or even sharesymbols with natural languages. See, e.g., Wikipedia, Natural language,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:00GMT).

It has been argued that because high-level programming languages usestrong abstraction (e.g., that they may resemble or share symbols withnatural languages), they are therefore a “purely mental construct”(e.g., that “software”—a computer program or computer programming—issomehow an ineffable mental construct, because at a high level ofabstraction, it can be conceived and understood in the human mind). Thisargument has been used to characterize technical description in the formof functions/operations as somehow “abstract ideas.” In fact, intechnological arts (e.g., the information and communicationtechnologies) this is not true.

The fact that high-level programming languages use strong abstraction tofacilitate human understanding should not be taken as an indication thatwhat is expressed is an abstract idea. In fact, those skilled in the artunderstand that just the opposite is true. If a high-level programminglanguage is the tool used to implement a technical disclosure in theform of functions/operations, those skilled in the art will recognizethat, far from being abstract, imprecise, “fuzzy,” or “mental” in anysignificant semantic sense, such a tool is instead a nearincomprehensibly precise sequential specification of specificcomputational machines—the parts of which are built up byactivating/selecting such parts from typically more generalcomputational machines over time (e.g., clocked time). This fact issometimes obscured by the superficial similarities between high-levelprogramming languages and natural languages. These superficialsimilarities also may cause a glossing over of the fact that high-levelprogramming language implementations ultimately perform valuable work bycreating/controlling many different computational machines.

The many different computational machines that a high-level programminglanguage specifies are almost unimaginably complex. At base, thehardware used in the computational machines typically consists of sometype of ordered matter (e.g., traditional external linking devices(e.g., transistors), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), quantum devices,mechanical switches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, optical devices(e.g., optical interference devices), molecules, etc.) that are arrangedto form logic gates. Logic gates are typically physical devices that maybe electrically, mechanically, chemically, or otherwise driven to changephysical state in order to create a physical reality of Boolean logic.

Logic gates may be arranged to form logic circuits, which are typicallyphysical devices that may be electrically, mechanically, chemically, orotherwise driven to create a physical reality of certain logicalfunctions. Types of logic circuits include such devices as multiplexers,registers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), computer memory, etc., eachtype of which may be combined to form yet other types of physicaldevices, such as a central processing unit (CPU)—the best known of whichis the microprocessor. A modern microprocessor will often contain morethan one hundred million logic gates in its many logic circuits (andoften more than a billion transistors). See, e.g., Wikipedia, Logicgates, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_gates (as of Jun. 5, 2012,21:03 GMT).

The logic circuits forming the microprocessor are arranged to provide amicroarchitecture that will carry out the instructions defined by thatmicroprocessor's defined Instruction Set Architecture. The InstructionSet Architecture is the part of the microprocessor architecture relatedto programming, including the native data types, instructions,registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt andexception handling, and external Input/Output. See, e.g., Wikipedia,Computer architecture,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_architecture (as of Jun. 5, 2012,21:03 GMT).

The Instruction Set Architecture includes a specification of the machinelanguage that can be used by programmers to use/control themicroprocessor. Since the machine language instructions are such thatthey may be executed directly by the microprocessor, typically theyconsist of strings of binary digits, or bits. For example, a typicalmachine language instruction might be many bits long (e.g., 32, 64, or128 bit strings are currently common). A typical machine languageinstruction might take the form “11110000101011110000111100111111” (a 32bit instruction).

It is significant here that, although the machine language instructionsare written as sequences of binary digits, in actuality those binarydigits specify physical reality. For example, if certain semiconductorsare used to make the operations of Boolean logic a physical reality, theapparently mathematical bits “1” and “0” in a machine languageinstruction actually constitute shorthand that specifies the applicationof specific voltages to specific wires. For example, in somesemiconductor technologies, the binary number “1” (e.g., logical “1”) ina machine language instruction specifies around +5 volts applied to aspecific “wire” (e.g., metallic traces on a printed circuit board) andthe binary number “0” (e.g., logical “0”) in a machine languageinstruction specifies around −5 volts applied to a specific “wire.” Inaddition to specifying voltages of the machines' configuration, suchmachine language instructions also select out and activate specificgroupings of logic gates from the millions of logic gates of the moregeneral machine. Thus, far from abstract mathematical expressions,machine language instruction programs, even though written as a stringof zeros and ones, specify many, many constructed physical machines orphysical machine states.

Machine language is typically incomprehensible by most humans (e.g., theabove example was just ONE instruction, and some personal computersexecute more than two billion instructions every second). See, e.g.,Wikipedia, Instructions per second,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_second (as of Jun. 5,2012, 21:04 GMT). Thus, programs written in machine language—which maybe tens of millions of machine language instructions long—areincomprehensible. In view of this, early assembly languages weredeveloped that used mnemonic codes to refer to machine languageinstructions, rather than using the machine language instructions'numeric values directly (e.g., for performing a multiplicationoperation, programmers coded the abbreviation “mult,” which representsthe binary number “011000” in MIPS machine code). While assemblylanguages were initially a great aid to humans controlling themicroprocessors to perform work, in time the complexity of the work thatneeded to be done by the humans outstripped the ability of humans tocontrol the microprocessors using merely assembly languages.

At this point, it was noted that the same tasks needed to be done overand over, and the machine language necessary to do those repetitivetasks was the same. In view of this, compilers were created. A compileris a device that takes a statement that is more comprehensible to ahuman than either machine or assembly language, such as “add 2+2 andoutput the result,” and translates that human understandable statementinto a complicated, tedious, and immense machine language code (e.g.,millions of 32, 64, or 128 bit length strings). Compilers thus translatehigh-level programming language into machine language.

This compiled machine language, as described above, is then used as thetechnical specification which sequentially constructs and causes theinteroperation of many different computational machines such thathumanly useful, tangible, and concrete work is done. For example, asindicated above, such machine language—the compiled version of thehigher-level language—functions as a technical specification whichselects out hardware logic gates, specifies voltage levels, voltagetransition timings, etc., such that the humanly useful work isaccomplished by the hardware.

Thus, a functional/operational technical description, when viewed by oneof skill in the art, is far from an abstract idea. Rather, such afunctional/operational technical description, when understood throughthe tools available in the art such as those just described, is insteadunderstood to be a humanly understandable representation of a hardwarespecification, the complexity and specificity of which far exceeds thecomprehension of most any one human. With this in mind, those skilled inthe art will understand that any such operational/functional technicaldescriptions—in view of the disclosures herein and the knowledge ofthose skilled in the art—may be understood as operations made intophysical reality by (a) one or more interchained physical machines, (b)interchained logic gates configured to create one or more physicalmachine(s) representative of sequential/combinatorial logic(s), (c)interchained ordered matter making up logic gates (e.g., interchainedelectronic devices (e.g., transistors), DNA, quantum devices, mechanicalswitches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, molecules, etc.) that createphysical reality representative of logic(s), or (d) virtually anycombination of the foregoing. Indeed, any physical object which has astable, measurable, and changeable state may be used to construct amachine based on the above technical description. Charles Babbage, forexample, constructed the first computer out of wood and powered bycranking a handle.

Thus, far from being understood as an abstract idea, those skilled inthe art will recognize a functional/operational technical description asa humanly-understandable representation of one or more almostunimaginably complex and time sequenced hardware instantiations. Thefact that functional/operational technical descriptions might lendthemselves readily to high-level computing languages (or high-levelblock diagrams for that matter) that share some words, structures,phrases, etc. with natural language simply cannot be taken as anindication that such functional/operational technical descriptions areabstract ideas, or mere expressions of abstract ideas. In fact, asoutlined herein, in the technological arts this is simply not true. Whenviewed through the tools available to those of skill in the art, suchfunctional/operational technical descriptions are seen as specifyinghardware configurations of almost unimaginable complexity.

As outlined above, the reason for the use of functional/operationaltechnical descriptions is at least twofold. First, the use offunctional/operational technical descriptions allows near-infinitelycomplex machines and machine operations arising from interchainedhardware elements to be described in a manner that the human mind canprocess (e.g., by mimicking natural language and logical narrativeflow). Second, the use of functional/operational technical descriptionsassists the person of skill in the art in understanding the describedsubject matter by providing a description that is more or lessindependent of any specific vendor's piece(s) of hardware.

The use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists theperson of skill in the art in understanding the described subject mattersince, as is evident from the above discussion, one could easily,although not quickly, transcribe the technical descriptions set forth inthis document as trillions of ones and zeroes, billions of single linesof assembly-level machine code, millions of logic gates, thousands ofgate arrays, or any number of intermediate levels of abstractions.However, if any such low-level technical descriptions were to replacethe present technical description, a person of skill in the art couldencounter undue difficulty in implementing the disclosure, because sucha low-level technical description would likely add complexity without acorresponding benefit (e.g., by describing the subject matter utilizingthe conventions of one or more vendor-specific pieces of hardware).Thus, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions assiststhose of skill in the art by separating the technical descriptions fromthe conventions of any vendor-specific piece of hardware.

In view of the foregoing, the logical operations/functions set forth inthe present technical description are representative of static orsequenced specifications of various ordered-matter elements, in orderthat such specifications may be comprehensible to the human mind andadaptable to create many various hardware configurations. The logicaloperations/functions disclosed herein should be treated as such, andshould not be disparagingly characterized as abstract ideas merelybecause the specifications they represent are presented in a manner thatone of skill in the art can readily understand and apply in a mannerindependent of a specific vendor's hardware implementation.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the arthas progressed to the point where there is little distinction leftbetween hardware, software, and/or firmware implementations of aspectsof systems; the use of hardware, software, and/or firmware is generally(but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardwareand software can become significant) a design choice representing costvs. efficiency tradeoffs. Those having skill in the art will appreciatethat there are various vehicles by which processes and/or systems and/orother technologies described herein can be effected (e.g., hardware,software, and/or firmware), and that the preferred vehicle will varywith the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or othertechnologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determinesthat speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for amainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibilityis paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly softwareimplementation; or, yet again alternatively, the implementer may opt forsome combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware in one or moremachines, compositions of matter, and articles of manufacture, limitedto patentable subject matter under 35 USC 101. Hence, there are severalpossible vehicles by which the processes and/or devices and/or othertechnologies described herein may be effected, none of which isinherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is achoice dependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployedand the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability)of the implementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that optical aspects of implementations will typically employoptically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware.

In some implementations described herein, logic and similarimplementations may include software or other control structures.Electronic circuitry, for example, may have one or more paths ofelectrical current constructed and arranged to implement variousfunctions as described herein. In some implementations, one or moremedia may be configured to bear a device-detectable implementation whensuch media holds or transmits device detectable instructions operable toperform as described herein. In some variants, for example,implementations may include an update or modification of existingsoftware or firmware, or of gate arrays or programmable hardware, suchas by performing a reception of or a transmission of one or moreinstructions in relation to one or more operations described herein.Alternatively or additionally, in some variants, an implementation mayinclude special-purpose hardware, software, firmware components, and/orgeneral-purpose components executing or otherwise invokingspecial-purpose components. Specifications or other implementations maybe transmitted by one or more instances of tangible transmission mediaas described herein, optionally by packet transmission or otherwise bypassing through distributed media at various times.

Alternatively or additionally, implementations may include executing aspecial-purpose instruction sequence or invoking circuitry for enabling,triggering, coordinating, requesting, or otherwise causing one or moreoccurrences of virtually any functional operations described herein. Insome variants, operational or other logical descriptions herein may beexpressed as source code and compiled or otherwise invoked as anexecutable instruction sequence. In some contexts, for example,implementations may be provided, in whole or in part, by source code,such as C++, or other code sequences. In other implementations, sourceor other code implementation, using commercially available and/ortechniques in the art, may be compiled/implemented/translated/convertedinto a high-level descriptor language (e.g., initially implementingdescribed technologies in C or C++ programming language and thereafterconverting the programming language implementation into alogic-synthesizable language implementation, a hardware descriptionlanguage implementation, a hardware design simulation implementation,and/or other such similar mode(s) of expression). For example, some orall of a logical expression (e.g., computer programming languageimplementation) may be manifested as a Verilog-type hardware description(e.g., via Hardware Description Language (HDL) and/or Very High SpeedIntegrated Circuit Hardware Descriptor Language (VHDL)) or othercircuitry model which may then be used to create a physicalimplementation having hardware (e.g., an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit). Those skilled in the art will recognize how to obtain,configure, and optimize suitable transmission or computational elements,material supplies, actuators, or other structures in light of theseteachings.

Throughout this application, examples and lists are given, withparentheses, the abbreviation “e.g.,” or both. Unless explicitlyotherwise stated, these examples and lists are merely exemplary and arenon-exhaustive. In most cases, it would be prohibitive to list everyexample and every combination. Thus, smaller, illustrative lists andexamples are used, with focus on imparting understanding of the claimterms rather than limiting the scope of such terms.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations are not expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein describedcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussionaccompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptualclarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated.Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and theaccompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their moregeneral classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended tobe representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specificcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be takenas limiting.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar or identical components oritems, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodimentsdescribed in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are notmeant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and otherchanges may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of thesubject matter presented here.

The development and evolution of food vending machine technology hasremained relatively stagnant over the last few decades even though therehave been substantial technological advancements in the fields ofmicroelectronics, automated manufacturing, and robotics. That is,today's food vending machines are not that different from vendingmachines of thirty or even forty years ago. With the exception of a verylimited number of vending machines (such as coffee machines that allowusers to make certain limited customizations of their order such asmaking their coffee sweeter or adding cream), the vast majority oftoday's food vending machines do not allow any customization of customerpurchases. The vast majority of today's food vending machines only allowa user/customer to select and purchase a food item (e.g., candy bars,chips, sandwiches, drinks, and so forth) from a plurality ofready-to-eat or substantially ready-to-eat food items (note that somecurrent food vending machines do offer food items that will need to beheated using a microwave oven) and that do not allow the user tocustomize their purchased food item.

With the advancement of microelectronics, robotics, and automatedmanufacturing technologies such as 3-D (three-dimensional) printing, itis envisioned that future food vending machines will not only be able tomanufacture food items “on the spot” but will also be able to customizefood items to the specific customization preferences of users. Forexample, with the development of 3-D (three-dimensional) printingtechnology, it is envisioned that customized food bars (e.g., customizedenergy bars) may be printed for users based on their preferences (e.g.,if a user is allergic to peanuts, no peanut ingredients are used informing an energy bar for the user). It is also envisioned that with theuse of robotics, fully customized meals (e.g., customized sandwiches,breads, stews, soups, shakes, and so forth) may be manufactured usingautomated customized food vending machines that employ robotics or otherforms of automation.

It is also envisioned that such automated customized food vendingmachines for generating customized foods (herein “customized fooditems”) will be relatively compact and therefore, will have relativelylimited ingredient supplies (e.g., low-fat milk, beef from Kobe, Japan,pecans, and so forth) for generating customized food items.Consequently, there may be many instances in which there will be noautomated vending machines in the nearby vicinity of a user that areable to generate a “compliant” customized food item (e.g., a customizedenergy bar, a customized sandwich, a customized shake, a customizedstew, and so forth) that is in full compliance with the customizationpreferences of the user. In such situations, it may be desirable todirect the user to one or more customized food vending machines (herein“automated customized food generation machines”) that will havecapability to generate a “substitute” customized food item that is onlyin partial compliance with the customization preferences of the user.

It should also be noted that many of today's sophisticated consumers arevery concerned about the integrity (e.g., purity, cleanliness, sourcing,and so forth) of their food supplies. It seems as though that in recentyears food supply contamination (e.g., salmonella, mad-cow disease,E-coli, and so forth) stories are being reported on a regular basis.That is, today's food supplies come from a vast number of food vendorslocated across the globe. For example, some food supplies originate fromcountries in the southern hemisphere that supply meats, fruits, andvegetables. There are also countless domestic farms and ranchesthroughout North America that supply chickens, pork, and beef. While thevegetable and fruit farms of California and Florida supplying the restof America with a variety of produce. It is often very difficult for endconsumers to ensure that the ingredients used to make, for example,ready-to-eat foods are of high purity and free of any disease orpesticides.

Accordingly, methods, systems, and articles of manufactures arepresented herein that are designed to, among other things, acquire orobtain user preference information of a user that indicates one or morecustomized food preferences of the user including at least one or moreingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one or moreingredients; determine that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user;and identify or ascertain one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user. As will be further described herein, insome embodiments such operations may be performed at an automatedcustomized food generation machine (e.g., a vending machine that candispense customized foods), while in other embodiments such operationsmay be performed at a network device (e.g., one or more servers, aworkstation, and so forth) that may be in communication with one or moreautomated customized food generation machines.

As will be used herein, the phrase “customized food preference” or“customized food preferences” of a user may be in reference to theuser's preferences for customizing a food item. Examples ofcustomization preferences include, for example, preference for usingbeef ingredients from Kobe Japan and not from Britain, preference thataspartame be used as a sweetener, preferences that ingredients beincluded in the customized food item are free of tree nuts, sources ofingredients, such as beef, having been tested to be free of impuritiessuch as certain bacterial agents, and so forth Other examples ofcustomization preferences will be provided herein. In variousembodiments, references in the following to “capable” automatedcustomized food generation machine[s] may be in reference to automatedcustomized food generation machines that have the capabilities (e.g.,having, for example, sufficient amounts of preferred ingredients insufficient quantities) to be able to presently generate at least onecustomized food item (herein “compliant” customized food item) that isin total compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofa user. In contrast, references in the following to “substitute”automated customized food generation machine[s] may be in reference toautomated customized food generation machines that have capabilities togenerate customized food items (herein “substitute” customized fooditems) that are only in partial compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of a user.

Referring now to FIG. 1A, which illustrates an exemplary automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* that is designed to generatecustomized food items 22 in accordance with customization preferences ofusers. Note that although the exemplary automated customized foodgeneration machine 10* illustrated in FIG. 1A is depicted as generatinga customized food item 22 that is in the form of an energy bar, inalternative embodiments, the exemplary automated customized foodgeneration machine 10* may generate other types of customized food items22 (e.g., customized sandwiches, customized stew, customized shakes, andso forth) having other forms. In some embodiments, the exemplaryautomated customized food generation machine 10* may be a standalonesystem that is self-contained with all of the logic needed in order toexecute the various operations to be described herein—see, for example,FIG. 5. Alternatively, at least some of the operations to be describedherein may actually be executed by a network device 12* that may be incommunication with the exemplary automated customized food generationmachines 10* as illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 1B, 1C, and 1D.

Note that FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are three block diagrams of threedifferent implementations of the exemplary automated customized foodgeneration machine 10* of FIG. 1A illustrated in FIG. 3A as exemplaryautomated customized food generation machine 10 a, illustrated in FIG.3B as exemplary automated customized food generation machine 10 b, andillustrated in FIG. 3C as exemplary automated customized food generationmachine 10 c. Further note that for purposes of the followingdescription, “*” represents a wildcard. Thus, references in thefollowing description to, for example, “automated customized foodgeneration machine 10*” may be in reference to any one of, for example,the exemplary automated customized food generation machine 10 a of FIG.3A, to the exemplary automated customized food generation machine 10 bof FIG. 3B, or to the exemplary automated customized food generationmachine 10 c of FIG. 3C (and/or to the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10′, 10″, 10′″, or 10″″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E.

Referring back to the exemplary automated customized food generationmachine 10* of FIG. 1A, the exemplary automated customized foodgeneration machine 10*, as illustrated, includes a display screen 30(which may be a touchscreen), a keypad 32, a compartment 34 fordispensing one or more customized food items 22, and a slot 36 forinserting a credit card or a Smartcard. The display screen 30 may beemployed to display (as well as to enter user input if it is atouchscreen) food menus, ingredient options, ingredient purity options(e.g., use ingredients free of pesticides), ingredient sourcing options(e.g., use only chicken ingredients from Tysons farm), and so forth. Invarious embodiments, keypad 32 may be used by a user to make selections(e.g., selection of user preferences), as well as to provide input forother types of information (e.g., user identification, credit cardinformation, dietary information, and so forth). The automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* may further include a slot 36 forreading a credit card or a Smartcard. Such cards may be a source forproviding certain user information including user identificationinformation and user preferences. Such cards, particularly Smartcards,which may have connectivity to mobile devices such as Smartphones, maybe used in order to provide other types of user data including socialnetworking data through their connectivity to the mobile devices ordirectly from such cards.

Referring briefly now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, which illustrate two blockdiagrams of two different implementations of the exemplary automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 1A when the exemplaryautomated customized food generation machine 10* is a “standalone”device that has, for example, most or all of the various logic needed inorder to execute, for example, the various functionalities to bedescribed herein. In particular, FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate two extremeimplementations of the standalone implementation of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 1A in which all of thelogic modules are implemented using purely hardware solutions (e.g.,employing dedicated circuitry such as application specific integratedcircuitry or ASIC) as illustrated in FIG. 3A (e.g., illustrated in FIG.3A as automated customized food generation machine 10 a) or in which allof the logic modules are implemented using software solutions (e.g.,software executed by one or more processors or controllers) asillustrated in FIG. 3B (e.g., illustrated in FIG. 3B as automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 b).

Note that for purposes of simplicity and for ease of illustration, onlythe two extreme implementations (e.g., the “hardware” implementation asillustrated by the automated customized food generation machine 10 a ofFIG. 3A and the “software” implementation as illustrated by theautomated customized food generation machine 10 b of FIG. 3B) of thestandalone automated customized food generation machine 10* arepresented here. However, it is recognized that any combination ofsoftware and hardware solutions are possible and may be employed invarious alternative embodiments. In any event, the “standalone”automated customized food generation machine 10 a depicted in FIG. 3A isthe “hard” implementation of the standalone implementation of theautomated customized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 1A where all ofthe logic modules (e.g., the user preference information obtainingmodule 302′, the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304′, the substitute automated customizedfood generation machine presence ascertaining module 306′, and theindicator presenting module 308′) are implemented using purely hardwaresolutions (e.g., circuitry such as application specific integratedcircuit or ASIC). In contrast, the automated customized food generationmachine 10 b of FIG. 3B is the soft implementation of the standaloneimplementation of the automated customized food generation machine 10*of FIG. 1A where all of the logic modules (e.g., the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302″, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304″, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306″, and the indicator presenting module 308″) are implementedusing software solutions (e.g., programmable instructions in the form ofcomputer readable instructions 342 being executed by hardware such asone or more processors 330) as illustrated in, for example, FIG. 3B.Note that FIG. 3C illustrates a block diagram (illustrated in FIG. 3C asautomated customized food generation machine 10 c) of a particularimplementation of the automated customized food generation machine 10*of FIG. 1 when the automated customized food generation machine 10* isnot a standalone device (e.g., when one or more logic modules may beremotely located, such as at a network device 12*, as illustrated inFIG. 1B)

Turning now to FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E, which illustrate variousexemplary scenarios of a user 13 interacting with a network device 12*and/or with one or more automated customized food generation machines10* in accordance with various embodiments. These scenarios arepresented herein in order to facilitate understanding of variousoperations and concepts to be described herein. Note that in theexemplary scenarios illustrated in FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E, the networkdevice 12* or one of the automated customized food generation machines10* may actually implement the various operations to be describedherein—see, for example, operational flow 500 of FIG. 5.

Referring particularly now to FIG. 1B, which shows a user 13 directlyinterfacing or interacting with an automated customized food generationmachine 10′ (herein “interfacing” automated customized food generationmachine) in order to order/purchase one or more customized food items22. Upon obtaining user preference information indicating foodcustomization preferences of the user 13 from the user 13 or from othersources, a determination (which may be made by the network device 12*and/or by the interfacing automated customized food generation machine10′) may be made that the automated customized food generation machine10′ is unable to satisfactorily fulfill the user's customizationpreferences.

The network device 12* (e.g., a network system such as a server or aworkstation, or a plurality of network computers—“the cloud”) may thendetermine whether there are any nearby “capable” automated customizedfood generation machines that are in the nearby vicinity of the user 13that are able to currently generate one or more customized food items 22in full compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user 13. For purposes of the example scenario of FIG. 1B (as well asin the example scenarios of FIGS. 1C, 1D, and 1E), the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″ will be assumed to be a capableautomated customized food generation machine that is able to currently(e.g., at the time of the determination) generate one or more customizedfood items 22 (e.g., “compliant” customized food items) in fullcompliance with the customization preferences (herein “customized foodpreferences”) of the user 13. However, because the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″ is far away from the user 13 andnot in the nearby vicinity (e.g., within half a mile, within two miles,or within some other short travel distance) of the user 13, the capableautomated customized food generation machine 10″″ may not be consideredas a viable machine for the user 13 to use and therefore, the user 13may not be directed to such a machine.

In various embodiments, the network device 12* may be further designedto identify in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 “substitute” automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to generate one ormore “substitute” customized food items that are only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user13. For purposes of this example scenario of FIG. 1B (as well as for theexample scenarios of FIGS. 1C, 1D, and 1E) only the automated customizedfood generation machines 10″ and 10′″ will be assumed to be substituteautomated customized food generation machines that are located in thenearby vicinity of the user 13. Note that for purposes of the scenarioof FIG. 1B, the automated customized food generation machine 10′ may bereferred to as the “interfacing” automated customized food generationmachine because the user 13 is directly interfacing/interacting with theautomated customized food generation machine 10′.

In order to determine whether any automated customized food generationmachines 10* that are located in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 arecapable automated customized food generation machines that are able tocurrently generate one or more customized food items 22 in fullcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user13, the network device 12* may query those nearby automated customizedfood generation machines (e.g., automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″) that are determined to be within the nearbyvicinity of the user 13 as to whether such machines have the capability(e.g., having the appropriate ingredients in sufficient quantities) togenerate one or more customized food items that are in full compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user 13.Alternatively, such a determination may be based on ingredient supplystatus data previously provided by the nearby automated customized foodgeneration machines (e.g., automated customized food generation machines10″ and 10′″) and stored in a memory 340 (see FIG. 3D or 3E, whichillustrate two different implementations of the network device 12* ofFIGS. 1B, 1C, and 1D—a hard implementation as illustrated in FIG. 3D inwhich all of the logic modules are implemented using hardware, and asoft implementation as illustrated in FIG. 3E, in which all of the logicmodules are implemented using software executed by one or moreprocessors 330).

The network device 12* may also query the nearby automated customizedfood generation machines (e.g., automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″) that are determined to be within the nearbyvicinity of the user 13 as to whether such machines have the capability(e.g., having the appropriate ingredients in sufficient quantities) togenerate one or more “substitute” customized food items that are only inpartial compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user 13. Alternatively, such a determination may be based on statusdata previously provided by the nearby automated customized foodgeneration machines (e.g., automated customized food generation machines10″ and 10′″) and stored in a memory 340.

In some cases, if no capable automated customized food generationmachines is found in the nearby vicinity of the user 13, then thenetwork device 12*, via the “interfacing” automated customized foodgeneration machine 10′, may direct the user 13 to one or more of thesubstitute customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″, which wereidentified by the network device 12* as being able to currently generateone or more substitute customized food items. As will be furtherdescribed herein, in various embodiments, various information may beprovided to the user 13 in addition to the simple identification of thesubstitute customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ including,for example, the distances and directions to the substitute customizedfood generation machines 10″ and 10′″ from the current location of theuser 13 and the deficiencies, relative to the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user 13, of the substitute customized food itemsthat such machines may be able to currently generate.

Turning now to FIG. 1C, which illustrates another scenario that is aslight variation from the scenario illustrated in FIG. 1B. In thisexample scenario of FIG. 1C, a user 13 is shown interacting with anetwork device 12* via a computing device 15 (e.g., a Smartphone, atablet computer, a workstation, a laptop, and so forth). In thisscenario, the user 13 is in direct communication with the network device12* via the computing device 15 so that the network device 12* maydirect, via the computing device 15, the user 13 to one or more capableautomated customized food generation machines, and if no capableautomated customized food generation machines (e.g., the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″ of FIG. 1C) are detected in thenearby vicinity (e.g., within one mile or within three miles) of theuser 13, the network device 12* may direct the user 13 to one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g.,automated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″).

That is, upon obtaining user preference information indicating one ormore customized food preferences of the user 13 from the computingdevice 15 or from other sources (based on user identificationinformation provided through the computing device 15), the networkdevice 12* may determine whether there are any capable automatedcustomized food generation machines in the nearby vicinity of the user13. Further, the network device 12* may be designed to identify, in thenearby vicinity of the user 13, the presence of one or more substitutecustomized food generation machines that are currently capable ofgenerating one or more substitute customized food items that are inpartial compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user 13. In order to make such determinations/identifications, thenetwork device 12* may query those automated customized food generationmachines 10* (e.g., “nearby machines”) that are located in the nearbyvicinity of the user 13 in order to determine whether any of the nearbymachines have the capabilities to currently generate one or morecompliant customized food items that are in compliance with the one ormore customized food preferences of the user 13 and/or to determinewhether any of the nearby machines having the capabilities to currentlygenerate one or more substitute customized food items that are only inpartial compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user. In some embodiments, if no capable automated customized foodgeneration machines are found in the nearby vicinity of the user 13,then the network device 12*, via the computing device 15, may direct theuser 13 to one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are in the nearby vicinity of the user 13.

Note again that in the example scenario of FIG. 1C, as well as forpurposes of the following discussions related to the various operationsto be described herein, the automated customized food generation machine10″″ of FIG. 1C is a capable automated customized food generationmachine that is able to currently generate one or more compliantcustomized food items that are in full compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13 but which is not in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 and, therefore, not a viable machine. Andas before, the automated customized food generation machines 10″ and10′″ are two substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate one or more substitute customizedfood items that are in partial compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13 and that are located in thenearby vicinity of the user 13.

As illustrated in FIG. 1C, the network device 12* may be incommunication with a plurality of automated customized food generationmachines 10* (e.g., automated customized food generation machine 10″,automated customized food generation machine 10′″, and automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″). Though not explicitlyillustrated, the network device 12* may communicate with the automatedcustomized food generation machines 10* and the computing device 15 viawireless and/or wired networks in order to determine, for example,whether there are any capable automated customized food generationmachines near the user 13 and whether there are any substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines near the user 13.

Turning now to FIG. 1D, which illustrates a scenario that is a slightvariation from the scenario illustrated in FIG. 1B. The only differencebetween the scenario illustrated in FIG. 1B and the scenario illustratedin FIG. 1D is that in the scenario illustrated in FIG. 1D the user 13communicates with the automated customized food generation machine 10′through a computing device 15 (e.g., a Smartphone, a cellular telephone,a tablet computer, a laptop, a desktop computer, and so forth). Thus,rather than the user 13 inputting user information (e.g., userpreference information, user ID/password, and so forth) directly intothe “interfacing” automated customized food generation machine 10′, theuser 13 may provide user input through the computing device 15, and toreceive output information (e.g., identification of one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″).

Referring now to FIG. 1E, which illustrates a scenario that is a hybridscenario of the scenario illustrated in FIG. 1B and the scenarioillustrated in FIG. 1C. In the scenario of FIG. 1E, the user 13 directlyinteracts with the automated customized food generation machine 10′(e.g., “interfacing” automated customized food generation machine). Uponthe automated customized food generation machine 10′ determining that itis unable to successfully generate one or more customized food items 22in compliance with the one or more customized food preferences of theuser 13, the automated customized food generation machine 10′ mayexecute the same or similar operations that the network device 12* of 10b and 10 c is able to execute including, for example, determiningwhether there are any capable automated customized food generationmachines in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 and determining whetherthere are any substitute automated customized food generation machinesin the nearby vicinity of the user 13. If no capable automatedcustomized food generation machines are detected in the nearby vicinityof the user 13 then the automated customized food generation machine 10′may direct the user 12 to one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines (e.g., automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″) that are determined to be in the nearby vicinity(e.g., within 30 minutes of walking, mass transit, and/or automatabletraveling distance) of the user 13.

It should be noted that although in the above description of the variousscenarios, the operation to determine whether there are any capableautomated customized food generation machine present in the nearbyvicinity of the user and the operation to identify presence of anysubstitute automated customized food generation machines in the nearbyvicinity of the user were described as two separate operations, inalternative embodiments such operations may be performed through asingle common operation. That is, an operation to determine themanufacturing capabilities of all automated customized food generationmachines present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 may perform bothof the these operations (e.g., an operation to determine whether thereare any capable automated customized food generation machine present inthe nearby vicinity of the user 13 and the operation to identifypresence of any substitute automated customized food generation machinesin the nearby vicinity of the user 13).

Referring now to FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, which illustrate exemplaryscreens that may be displayed through a computing device 15 (see, forexample, FIG. 1C or 1D) or through an automated customized foodgeneration machine 10′ (see, for example, FIG. 1C or 1E) and thatprovides indicators that direct a user 13 to one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines in accordance with variousembodiments. Turning particularly now to FIG. 2A, which illustrates anexemplary screen 200 a that includes indicator 210 a that providesinformation that identifies the customized food being requested (e.g.,hamburger) and the customized food preferences (e.g., Beef from Kobe,Japan, source for the beef tested for prions, and so forth) of the user13. Exemplary screen 200 a also includes indicator 220 a that identifiessubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and1E) that are determined to be able to currently generate one or moresubstitute customized food items that are only in partial compliancewith one or more customized food preferences of the user 13. Indicator220 a identifies the substitute automated customized food generationmachines by machine identifier (e.g., “Red vending machine” and “Vendingmachine 2”), by address (e.g., “235 Main Street” and “550 2^(nd)Street), and by name of location (e.g., “Union 76 Gas Station”).Indicator 220 a also indicates the distances to the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines from the current location of theuser 13. Indicator 220 a additionally indicates the non-compliance(e.g., deficiency or deficiencies relative to the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user 13 of the substitute customized food itemsthat the substitute automated customized food generation machines may beable to generate) of the substitute customized food items that thesubstitute automated customized food generation machines are able togenerate. Indicator 220 a further indicates the prices of the substitutecustomized food items that can be generated by the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines. Indicator 220 a, as illustrated,ranks the different machines automated customized food generationmachines based on their distances from the user 13 (e.g., Option 1 isranked first because it is only 745 yards away). Note also, thatindicator 220 a indicates that the first listed substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine (e.g., option 1) is located along apast travel path of the user 13 (e.g., a travel route or path that theuser 13 has previously used). Exemplary screen 200 a also includesindicator 212 a that indicates that there are no capable automatedcustomized food generation machines located in the nearby vicinity ofthe user 13.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary screen 200 b that may be displayed uponthe user 13 selecting “option 1” of screen 200 a of FIG. 2A. As a resultof electing option 1, screen 200 b is displayed that shows directions(e.g., instructions) for traveling to the corresponding substituteautomated customized food generation machine (e.g., automated customizedfood generation machine 10′″ or 10″″ of FIG. 1B, 1C, 1D, or 1E) asindicated by indicator 220 b. In contrast, indicator 210 b of FIG. 2Bidentifies the substitute automated customized food generation machinethat was selected by the user 13 (e.g., “Red vending machine at 245North Street”) and the original user preference information (e.g., nameof the food requested—hamburger and customization preferences—beef fromKobe, Japan, ingredient source tested for prions, and so forth).

Turning now to FIG. 2C, which illustrates an exemplary screen 200 c thatincludes indicator 220 c that identifies the locations of the twosubstitute automated customized food generation machines relative to thecurrent location of the user 13 on a map. In particular, indicator 220 cincludes black squares that indicate locations of substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines superimposed on top of a map.Indicator 220 c further includes route 232 that shows a route that theuser 13 may take in order to get to the location of one of thesubstitute automated customized food generation machines from thecurrent location of the user 13. A more detailed discussion related tothe exemplary screens 200 a, 200 b, and 200 c of FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2Cwill be provided below with respect to the various operations andprocesses to be described herein.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, which as briefly described above,illustrate two block diagrams of two different implementations of theautomated customized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 1A when theautomated customized food generation machine 10* is a standalone devicewith all of the necessary logic to perform the various operations to bedescribed below with respect to the flow process of FIG. 5. Inparticular, and as will be further described herein, FIG. 3A illustratesan automated customized food generation machine 10 a that is the“hardwired” or “hard” implementation of a standalone automatedcustomized food generation system that can implement the operations andprocesses to be described herein. The automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a may comprise certain logic modules including,for example, a user preference information obtaining module 302′, acapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304′, a substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306′, and/or anindicator presenting module 308′ that are implemented using purelyhardware or circuitry components (e.g., application specific integratedcircuit or “ASIC”). In contrast, FIG. 3B illustrates a standaloneautomated customized food generation machine 10 b that is the “soft”implementation of an automated customized food generation system thatcan implement the operations and processes to be described herein. Invarious embodiments, the automated customized food generation machine 10b may also include certain logic modules including, for example, a userpreference information obtaining module 302″, a capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304″, asubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306″, and/or an indicator presenting module 308″that are implemented using electronic circuitry (e.g., one or moreprocessors 330 including one or more microprocessors, controllers, etc.)executing one or more programming instructions (e.g., software in theform of computer readable instructions 342—see FIG. 3B).

The embodiments of the standalone automated customized food generationmachine 10* illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B are two extremeimplementations of a standalone automated customized food generationsystem in which all of the logic modules (e.g., the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302′, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304′, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306′, and the indicator presenting module 308′) are implementedusing purely hardware solutions (e.g., circuitry such as ASIC) asillustrated in, for example, FIG. 3A or in which all of the logicmodules (e.g., the user preference information obtaining module 302″,the capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304″, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306″, and the indicatorpresenting module 308″) are implemented using software solutions (e.g.,programmable instructions in the form of computer readable instructions342 being executed by hardware such as one or more processors 330) asillustrated in, for example, FIG. 3B. Since there are many ways ofcombining hardware, software, and/or firmware in order to implement thevarious logic modules (e.g., the user preference information obtainingmodule 302*, the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304*, the substitute automated customizedfood generation machine presence ascertaining module 306*, and theindicator presenting module 308*), only the two extreme implementations(e.g., the purely hardware solution as illustrated in FIG. 3A and thesoftware solution of FIG. 3B) are illustrated here. It should be notedhere that with respect to the “soft” implementation illustrated in FIG.3B, hardware in the form of circuitry such as one or more processors 330are still needed in order to execute the software. Further detailsrelated to the two implementations of the standalone automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3Bwill be provided in greater detail below.

In still other implementations, the automated customized food generationmachine 10* of FIG. 1A may not actually include the various logicmodules (e.g., the user preference information obtaining module 302*,the capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304*, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306*, and the indicatorpresenting module 308*) that implement the various operations/processesdescribed herein. For example, the automated customized food generationmachine 10 c of FIG. 3C illustrates such a device that does not have thevarious logic modules (e.g., a user preference information obtainingmodule 302*, a capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304*, a substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306*, and an indicatorpresenting module 308*) included in the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a and 10 b of FIGS. 3A and 3B. Instead, such logicmodules may be located in a remote device such as at a network device12* as illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 3D and 3E. In suchimplementations, the other device (e.g., network device 12*) may beendowed with the various logic modules (e.g., a user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302*, a capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304*, a substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306*, and an indicator presenting module 308*) in order to beable to perform at least some of the processes and operations to bedescribed herein. In various implementations, the network device 12* maybe a network computing device (e.g., a server or a workstation) or aplurality of network devices (e.g., the cloud).

FIGS. 3D and 3E illustrates two extreme implementations of the networkdevice 12* of FIGS. 1B, 1C, and 1D in which all of the logic modules(e.g., the user preference information obtaining module 302′″, thecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304′″, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306′″, and the indicatorpresenting module 308′″) are implemented using purely hardware solutions(e.g., circuitry such as ASIC) as illustrated in, for example, FIG. 3D,or in which all of the logic modules (e.g., the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302″″, the capable automated customizedfood generation machine presence determining module 304″″, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306″″, and the indicator presenting module 308″″)are implemented using software solutions (e.g., programmableinstructions in the form of computer readable instructions 342 beingexecuted by hardware such as one or more processors 330) as illustratedin, for example, FIG. 3E. Again, although there are many ways to combinehardware, software, and/or firmware in order to implement the variouslogic modules (e.g., the user preference information obtaining module302*, the capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304*, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306*, and the indicatorpresenting module 308*), for ease of illustration only the two extremeimplementations (e.g., the purely hardware solution as illustrated inFIG. 3D and the software solution of FIG. 3E) are illustrated here.

In some instances, one or more components may be referred to herein as“configured to,” “configured by,” “configurable to,” “operable/operativeto,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,”“designed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that suchterms (e.g., “configured to”) generally encompass active-statecomponents and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-statecomponents, unless context requires otherwise.

Referring back to FIG. 3A, which illustrates a block diagram of anautomated customized food generation machine 10 a that includes a userpreference information obtaining module 302′, a capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304′, asubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306′, and an indicator presenting module 308′,memory 340, a communication system 350 (e.g., a network interface card,a transceiver, and so forth), a user interface 360 (e.g., a display, aspeaker, and so forth), one or more processors 330 (e.g., one or moremicroprocessors), and a customized food item production system 320. Insome embodiments, the memory 340 may store ingredient supply data 341that indicates ingredient supply information of one or more automatedcustomized food generation machines 10* (which in this case, may alsoindicate the supply information of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a). In various embodiments, the customized fooditem production system 320 may include one or more ingredient supplies,and components for manufacturing customized food items including, forexample, robotic components, 3-D printing components, heating and/orcooling components, ingredient mixing components, molding components,and so forth for producing or manufacturing one or more customized fooditems in accordance with customized food preferences of one or moreusers. In some embodiments, the user interface 360 may include a displayscreen 30 such as a touchscreen, a keypad 32, and so forth.

In various embodiments, the user preference information obtaining module302′ of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a of FIG. 3Ais a logic module that may be designed to, among other things, obtainuser preference information of a user, the user preference informationto be obtained indicating one or more customized food preferences of theuser 13 including at least one or more ingredient integrity preferencesrelated to integrity of one or more ingredients. In contrast, thecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304′ of FIG. 3A is a logic module that may beconfigured to determine that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in nearby vicinity of the user 13 thatis able to currently generate one or more customized food items 22 incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user13. The substitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306′ is a logic module that may be configured to,among other things, ascertain in the nearby vicinity of the user 13presence of one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is only in partial compliance with the one ormore customized food preferences of the user 13. The indicatorpresenting module 308′ of FIG. 3A, on the other hand, is a logic modulethat may be configured to, among other things, present one or moreindicators 220* that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines in response, at least in part, tothe ascertainment of the presence of the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines in the nearby vicinity ofthe user 13.

Turning now to FIG. 3B, which illustrates a block diagram of anotherautomated customized food generation machine 10 b that can implement theoperations and processes to be described herein. As indicated earlier,the automated customized food generation machine 10 b in FIG. 3B ismerely the “soft” version of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a of FIG. 3A because the various logic modules: the userpreference information obtaining module 302″, the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304″, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306″, and the indicator presenting module 308″ areimplemented using one or more processors 330 (e.g., one or moremicroprocessors or controllers) executing software (e.g., computerreadable instructions 342) rather than being implemented using purelyhardware (e.g., ASIC) solutions as was the case in the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a of FIG. 3A. Thus, the userpreference information obtaining module 302″, the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304″, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306″, and the indicator presenting module 308″ ofFIG. 3B may be designed to execute the same or similar functions as theuser preference information obtaining module 302′, the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304′, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306′, and the indicator presenting module 308′ ofFIG. 3A. The automated customized food generation machine 10 b, asillustrated in FIG. 3B, may include other components (e.g., the userinterface 360, the communication system 350, the memory 340 that storesthe ingredient supply data 341 and the computer readable instructions342, the customized food item production system 320, and so forth) thatare the same or similar to the other components that may be included inthe automated customized food generation machine 10 a of FIG. 3A. Notethat in the embodiment of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 b illustrated in FIG. 3B, the various logic modules (e.g.,the user preference information obtaining module 302″, the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determining module304″, the substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 306″, and the indicator presenting module308″) may be implemented by the one or more processors 330 (or othertypes of circuitry such as field programmable gate arrays or FPGAs)executing one or more computer readable instructions 342 stored inmemory 340.

In various embodiments, the memory 340 of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a of FIG. 3A and the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 b of FIG. 3B may comprise one or more of massstorage device, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory(PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), cache memorysuch as random access memory (RAM), flash memory, synchronous randomaccess memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/or othertypes of memory devices.

FIG. 3C illustrates the automated customized food generation machine 10*of FIG. 1A (e.g., illustrated in FIG. 3C as automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 c) when the automated customized food generationmachine 10* of FIG. 1A is not a standalone device but instead, relies onanother device (e.g., the network device 12* of FIG. 1C or 1D) toprovide the various logic needed in order to, for example, execute thevarious operations to be described herein (e.g., see FIG. 5 or 9). Incontrast, FIGS. 3D and 3E illustrate two extreme implementations (e.g.,in which all of the logic modules are implemented using hardwaresolutions as illustrated in the network device 12 a of FIG. 3D or inwhich all of the logic modules are implemented using software solutionsas illustrated in the network device 12 b of FIG. 3E) of the networkdevice 12* of FIGS. 1B, 1C, and 1D. Note that both the network device 12a of FIG. 3D and the network device 12 b of FIG. FIG. 3E have the samelogic modules as those logic modules included in the customized foodpreparation systems 10 a and 10 b of FIGS. 3A and 3B performing the sameor similar functionalities.

Turning now to FIG. 4A illustrating a particular implementation of theuser preference information obtaining module 302* (e.g., the userpreference information obtaining module 302′, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302″, the user preference informationobtaining module 302′″, or the user preference information obtainingmodule 302″″) of FIG. 3A, 3B, 3D, or 3E. As illustrated, the userpreference information obtaining module 302* may include one or moresub-logic modules in various alternative implementations. For example,in various embodiments, the user preference information obtaining module302* may include a user entry obtaining module 402, a user associateddevice provided user preference information obtaining module 404, amemory provided user preference information obtaining module 406, aninternet provided user preference information obtaining module 408, auser proximity detecting module 410, and/or a user interfaced automatedcustomized food generation machine unsatisfactory determining module 412(which may further include a deficient ingredient supply determiningmodule 414). Specific details related to the user preference informationobtaining module 302* as well as the above-described sub-modules of theuser preference information obtaining module 302* will be provided belowwith respect to the operations and processes to be described herein.

Turning now to FIG. 4B illustrating a particular implementation of thecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304* (e.g., the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304′, the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determining module304″, the capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304′″, or the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304″″) of FIG. 3A, 3B,3D, or 3E. As illustrated, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304* may include one ormore sub-logic modules in various alternative implementations. Forexample, in various embodiments, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304* may include anautomated customized food generation machine querying module 416, apreparation preference capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining module 418, a taste/flavor preferencecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 420, an ingredient preference capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 422, aningredient purity preference capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 424, an ingredient sourcepreference capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 426, and/or an ingredient source location preferencecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 428. Specific details related to the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determining module304* as well as the above-described sub-modules of the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304* willbe provided below with respect to the operations and processes to bedescribed herein.

Turning now to FIG. 4C illustrating a particular implementation of thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* (e.g., the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306′, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306″, the substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 306″, or the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence ascertaining module 306″″)of FIG. 3A, 3B, 3D, or 3E. As illustrated, the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence ascertaining module 306* mayinclude one or more sub-logic modules in various alternativeimplementations. For example, in various embodiments, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306* may include a substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine description ascertaining module 430, a substituteautomated customized food generation machine location ascertainingmodule 432, a user/substitute machine distance ascertaining module 434,a travel route ascertaining module 436, an automated customized foodgeneration machine querying module 438, and/or a preferred ingredientdeficient substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 440 (which may further include a substituteingredient stocked substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 442). Specific details related tothe substitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* as well as the above-described sub-modules ofthe substitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* will be provided below with respect to theoperations and processes to be described herein.

Referring to FIG. 4D, which illustrates a particular implementation ofthe indicator presenting module 308* (e.g., the indicator presentingmodule 308′, the indicator presenting module 308″, the indicatorpresenting module 308′″, or the indicator presenting module 308″″) ofFIG. 3A, 3B, 3D, or 3E. As illustrated, the indicator presenting module308* may include one or more sub-logic modules in various alternativeimplementations. For example, in various embodiments, the indicatorpresenting module 308* may include an electronic indicator communicatingmodule 444, a textual indicator presenting module 446, a graphicalindicator presenting module 448, a distance indicator presenting module450, and/or a substitute customized food item deficiency indicatorpresenting module 452. Specific details related to the indicatorpresenting module 308* as well as the above-described sub-modules of theindicator presenting module 308* will be provided below with respect tothe operations and processes to be described herein.

In the following, various operations are presented in accordance withvarious embodiments that may be implemented by the automated customizedfood generation machine 10* of FIG. 3A, 3B, or 3C, or that may beimplemented by the network device 12* of FIG. 3D or 3E. FIG. 5, forexample, illustrates an operational flow 500 representing examplecomputationally-implemented operations that may be implemented for,among other things, acquiring user preference information of a user thatindicates one or more customized food preferences of the user,determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present near the user that is capable of currentlygenerating one or more customized food items in total or completecompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user,and identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines in the nearby vicinity of the user that are able togenerate at least one substitute customized food item that is in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user.In some implementations, at least some portions of these operations maybe implemented via an automated customized food generation machine 10*(e.g., the automated customized food generation machine 10 a, automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 b, or the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 c) of, for example, FIG. 3A, 3B, or 3C or viaa network device 12* (e.g., the network device 12 a or the networkdevice 12 b) of FIG. 3D or 3E.

In FIG. 5 and in the following figures that include various examples ofoperational flows, discussions and explanations will be provided withrespect to the automated customized food generation machine 10* or thenetwork device 12* described above and as illustrated in FIGS. 3A, 3B,3C, 3D, 3E, 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D, and/or with respect to other examples(e.g., as provided in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 2A, 2B, and 2C) andcontexts. However, it should be understood that the operational flowsmay be executed in a number of other environments and contexts, and/orin modified versions of FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3B, 3C,3D, 3E, 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D. Also, although the various operational flowsare presented in the sequence(s) illustrated, it should be understoodthat the various operations may be performed in orders other than thosewhich are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently.

Further, in FIG. 5 and in the figures to follow thereafter, variousoperations may be depicted in a box-within-a-box manner. Such depictionsmay indicate that an operation in an internal box may comprise anoptional example embodiment of the operational step illustrated in oneor more external boxes. However, it should be understood that internalbox operations may be viewed as independent operations separate from anyassociated external boxes and may be performed in any sequence withrespect to all other illustrated operations, or may be performedconcurrently. Still further, these operations illustrated in FIG. 5 aswell as the other operations to be described herein are performed by atleast one of a machine, an article of manufacture, or a composition ofmatter unless indicated otherwise.

For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that theinitial flowcharts present implementations via an example implementationand thereafter the following flowcharts present alternateimplementations and/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as eithersub-component operations or additional component operations building onone or more earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the artwill appreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g.,beginning with a presentation of a flowchart(s) presenting an exampleimplementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or furtherdetails in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easyunderstanding of the various process implementations. In addition, thoseskilled in the art will further appreciate that the style ofpresentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/orobject-oriented program design paradigms.

In any event, after a start operation, the operational flow 500 of FIG.5 may move to a user preference information acquiring operation 502 foracquiring user preference information of a user that indicates one ormore customized food preferences of the user including at least one ormore ingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one ormore ingredients. For instance, and as illustration, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10* of FIG. 3A or 3B (e.g., the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302′ of FIG. 3A or the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302″ of FIG. 3B) or of the network device12* of FIG. 3D or 3E (e.g., the user preference information obtainingmodule 302′″ of FIG. 3D or the user preference information obtainingmodule 302″″ of FIG. 3E) acquiring or obtaining user preferenceinformation (e.g., user dietary information, user dietary preferences,user dietary restrictions, ingredient preference, food preference, andso forth) of a user 13 that indicates one or more customized foodpreferences of the user 13 including at least one or more ingredientintegrity preferences (e.g., purity preferences and/or sourcingpreferences) related to integrity of one or more ingredients (e.g.,meats, dairy products, vegetables, processed ingredients such as flouror sugar, and so forth) that may be used for generating one or morecustomized food items 22 (e.g., customized energy bars, customizedsandwiches, customized shakes or smoothies, customized stews, and soforth).

Operational flow 500 may also include a capable automated customizedfood generation machine presence determining operation 504 fordetermining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in nearby vicinity of the user that is ableto currently generate one or more customized food items in compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user. Forinstance, the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10* of FIG. 3A or 3B (e.g., the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304′ ofFIG. 3A or the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304″ of FIG. 3B) or of the network device12* of FIG. 3D or 3E (e.g., the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304′″ of FIG. 3D or thecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304″″ of FIG. 3E) determining or ascertaining thatthere is no capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g.,there are no “capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present in nearby vicinity(e.g., within half a mile) of the user 13 that is able to currently(e.g., at the time of the determination) generate one or more customizedfood items 22 in full or complete compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences (e.g., preference for aspartame as asweetener, preference that beef ingredients that are to be used not befrom Britain, and so forth) of the user 13.

Operational flow 500 may further include a substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence identifying operation 506for identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user that areable to currently generate at least one substitute customized food itemthat is only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user. For instance, the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence ascertaining module 306* ofthe automated customized food generation machine 10* of FIG. 3A or 3B(e.g., the substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 306′ of FIG. 3A or the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence ascertaining module 306″ ofFIG. 3B) or of the network device 12* of FIG. 3D or 3E (e.g., thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306′″ of FIG. 3D or the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence ascertaining module 306″″ ofFIG. 3E) identifying or ascertaining one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″) present in the nearby vicinity (e.g.,within one mile) of the user 13 that are able to currently (e.g., at thetime of the identifying) generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is only in partial compliance (as opposed to complete orfull compliance) with the one or more customized food preferences of theuser 13.

For example, identifying or ascertaining at least one substituteautomated customized food generation machine 10″ or 10′″ that is capableof generating, at least at the time of identification, a substitutecustomized food item 22 that is in partial compliance with thecustomization preferences of the user 13. Thus, references in thefollowing to a “substitute automated customized food generation machine”or to “one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines” (as opposed to one or more “capable automated customized foodgeneration machines”) may be in reference to one or more automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) that cancurrently (e.g., at the time of identification or ascertainment)generate one or more substitute customized food items (e.g., customizedfood items 22) that are only in partial compliance with one or morecustomized food preferences of a user 13 as they related to one or moreparticular food items (e.g., customization preferences as they relate toenergy bars, sandwiches, shakes, soups, and so forth).

In contrast, references in the following to a “capable automatedcustomized food generation machine” or to “one or more capable automatedcustomized food generation machines” may be in reference to one or moreautomated customized food generation machines (e.g., capable automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E)that can currently generate one or more compliant customized food items(e.g., customized food item 22 of FIG. 1A) that are in full or completecompliance with one or more customized food preferences of the user 13as they related to one or more particular food items. In variousembodiments, the ability of a capable automated customized foodgeneration machine to be able to currently generate one or morecompliant customized food items may be as a result of having currentaccess to (e.g., having supplies of) the necessary or preferredingredients in sufficient quantities in order to generate one or morecompliant customized food items that are in full compliance with one ormore preferences of a user 13. In contrast, the inability of asubstitute automated customized food generation machine (e.g., thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine 10″ or 10′″ ofFIG. 1B, 1C, 1D, or 1E) to be able to currently generate one or moresubstitute customized food items may be as a result of not having atleast current access to the necessary or preferred ingredients insufficient quantities that are needed in order to currently generate oneor more compliant customized food items that are in full compliance withone or more preferences of a user 13. For purposes of the followingdescription, a “compliant customized food item” is a customized fooditem that is generated in complete or total compliance with one or morecustomized food preferences of a user 13. In contrast, a substitutecustomized food item is a customized food item that is generated inpartial compliance with one or more customized food preferences of auser and that is generated in order to substitute for a compliantcustomized food item.

As will be described below, the user preference information acquiringoperation 502, the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining operation 504, and the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence identifying operation 506may be executed in a variety of different ways in various alternativeimplementations. FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D, for example, illustrate atleast some of the alternative ways that the user preference informationacquiring operation 502 of FIG. 5 may be implemented in variousalternative implementations. In some cases, for example, the userpreference information acquiring operation 502 may include an operation602 for acquiring the user preference information of the user byacquiring at least a portion of the user preference information from theuser as illustrated in FIG. 6A. For instance, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user preferenceinformation of the user 13 by acquiring or obtaining at least a portionof the user preference information from the user 13 (e.g., preferenceinformation such as user ID, food item selection, and so forth asentered by the user 13).

In various implementations, operation 602 may further include one ormore additional operations including, in some cases, an operation 603for acquiring the at least a portion of the user preference informationfrom the user by acquiring one or more entries entered by the userthrough a user interface of an automated customized food generationmachine that is designed to generate customized food items. Forinstance, the user preference information obtaining module 302*including the user entry obtaining module 402 (see FIG. 4A) of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiringthe at least a portion of the user preference information from the user13 by having the user entry obtaining module 402 acquire or obtain oneor more entries entered by the user 13 through a user interface 360 ofan automated customized food generation machine 10* that is designed togenerate customized food items 22 in accordance with user customizationpreferences.

In some implementations, operation 602 may further include an operation604 for acquiring the at least a portion of the user preferenceinformation from the user by acquiring the at least a portion of theuser preference information from one or more devices associated with theuser. For instance, the user preference information obtaining module302* including the user associated device provided user preferenceinformation obtaining module 404 (see FIG. 4A) of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the at leasta portion of the user preference information from the user 13 by havingthe user associated device provided user preference informationobtaining module 404 acquire or obtain the at least a portion of theuser preference information from one or more devices 15 (e.g., mobilecomputing devices such as Smartphones, tablet computer, and so forth)associated with the user 13.

In some cases, operation 604 may include an operation 605 for acquiringthe at least a portion of the user preference information from the oneor more devices associated with the user by acquiring the at least aportion of the user preference information from one or more of a creditcard, a smart card, and/or a computing device associated with the user.For instance, the user associated device provided user preferenceinformation obtaining module 404 (see FIG. 4A) of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the at leasta portion of the user preference information from the one or moredevices 15 associated with the user 13 by acquiring or obtaining the atleast a portion of the user preference information from one or more of acredit card, a smart card, and/or a computing device (e.g., mobiledevice, desktop or laptop computer, etc.) associated with the user 13.

In some implementations, the user preference information acquiringoperation 502 may actually include an operation 606 for acquiring theuser preference information of the user by retrieving at least a portionof the user preference information from a memory based, at least inpart, on one or more user identifications provided by the user. Forinstance, the user preference information obtaining module 302*including the memory user preference information obtaining module 406(see FIG. 4A) of the automated customized food generation machine 10 aor 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG.3D or 3E) acquiring the user preference information of the user 13 byhaving the memory user preference information obtaining module 406retrieve or obtain at least a portion of the user preference informationfrom a memory 340 based, at least in part, on one or more useridentifications (e.g., username, password, credit card number, and soforth) directly or indirectly provided by the user 13. For example, theuser 13 may directly input user identification information via a userinterface 360 of an automated customized food generation machine 10* orvia a computing device 15, which may already have such useridentification information stored in memory 340. Based on the obtaineduser identification information, user preference information may beretrieved.

In various implementations, the user preference information acquiringoperation 502 may actually include an operation 607 for acquiring theuser preference information of the user by retrieving at least a portionof the user preference information from the internet based, at least inpart, on one or more user identifications provided by the user. Forinstance, the user preference information obtaining module 302*including the internet user preference information obtaining module 408(see FIG. 4A) of the automated customized food generation machine 10 aor 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG.3D or 3E) acquiring the user preference information of the user 13 byhaving the internet user preference information obtaining module 408retrieve or obtain at least a portion of the user preference informationfrom the internet based, at least in part, on one or more useridentifications (e.g., username, email address, password, and so forth)provided by the user 13.

In some cases, operation 607 may further include an operation 608 forretrieving at least the portion of the user preference information fromone or more social networking websites based, at least in part, on oneor more user identifications provided by the user. For instance, theinternet user preference information obtaining module 408 of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) retrievingor obtaining at least the portion of the user preference informationfrom one or more social networking websites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter,and so forth) based, at least in part, on one or more useridentifications directly or indirectly provided by the user 13.

Referring now to FIG. 6B, in various implementations, the userpreference information acquiring operation 502 may include an operation609 for acquiring the user preference information of the user byacquiring the user preference information in response to detecting thatthe user being spatially near one or more automated customized foodgeneration machines that are designed to generate customized food items.For instance, the user preference information obtaining module 302*including the user proximity detecting module 410 (see FIG. 4A) of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiringthe user preference information of the user 13 by automaticallyacquiring the user preference information in response to, for example,the user proximity detecting module 410 detecting that the user 13 beingspatially near one or more automated customized food generation machines10* that are designed to generate customized food items 22. In somecases, the user 13 may be detected as being near the one or morecustomized food generation machines 10* based on locational data (e.g.,GPS provided data) provided by the computing device 15 (e.g., Smartphoneor tablet computer) of the user 13.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6B, operation 609 may further include anoperation 610 for acquiring the user preference information in responseto detecting that the user being spatially near the one or moreautomated customized food generation machines by acquiring the userpreference information in response to detecting that the user is within20 feet from one or more locations of the one or more automatedcustomized food generation machines. For instance, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302* including the user proximity detectingmodule 410 of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) acquiring the user preference information in response todetecting that the user 13 being spatially near the one or moreautomated customized food generation machines 10* by acquiring the userpreference information in response to, for example, the user proximitydetecting module 410 detecting that the user 13 is within 20 feet fromone or more locations of the one or more automated customized foodgeneration machines 10*.

In some implementations, operation 609 may include an operation 611 foracquiring the user preference information in response to detecting thatthe user being spatially near the one or more automated customized foodgeneration machines by acquiring the user preference information inresponse to detecting that the user is approaching the one or moreautomated customized food generation machines. For instance, the userpreference information obtaining module 302* including the userproximity detecting module 410 of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user preferenceinformation in response to detecting that the user 13 being spatiallynear the one or more automated customized food generation machines 10*by acquiring the user preference information in response to, forexample, the user proximity detecting module 410 detecting that the user13 is approaching or nearing the one or more automated customized foodgeneration machines 10*.

In various implementations, the user preference information acquiredthrough the user preference information acquiring operation 502 mayinclude a variety of user information. For example, in some cases, theuser preference information acquiring operation 502 may include anoperation 612 for acquiring the user preference information of the userthat indicates the one or more customized food preferences of the userby acquiring user dietary preference information of the user thatindicates one or more dietary preferences of the user. For instance, theuser preference information obtaining module 302* of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the userpreference information of the user 13 that indicates the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13 by acquiring or obtaininguser dietary preference information of the user 13 that indicates one ormore dietary preferences (e.g., beef rather than chicken, spicy, low-fatmilk, and so forth) of the user 13.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6B, in some implementations, operation612 may actually include an operation 613 for acquiring the user dietarypreference information of the user that indicates one or more dietarypreferences of the user by acquiring user dietary information of theuser that indicates one or more food item preferences of the user. Forinstance, the user preference information obtaining module 302* of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiringthe user dietary preference information of the user 13 that indicatesone or more dietary preferences of the user 13 by acquiring or obtaininguser dietary information of the user 13 that indicates one or more fooditem preferences (e.g., a user selection for a particular food item suchas a hamburger, a peanut-chocolate chip energy bar, a chocolate shake,and so forth) of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 612 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 614 for acquiring theuser dietary preference information of the user that indicates the oneor more dietary preferences of the user by acquiring user dietaryinformation of the user that indicates one or more food preparationpreferences of the user for preparing the one or more customized fooditems. For instance, the user preference information obtaining module302* of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b ofFIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)acquiring the user dietary preference information of the user 13 thatindicates the one or more dietary preferences of the user 13 byacquiring or obtaining user dietary information of the user 13 thatindicates one or more food preparation (e.g., heating or cooling)preferences of the user 13 for preparing the one or more customized fooditems 22.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 612 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 615 for acquiring theuser dietary preference information of the user that indicates the oneor more dietary preferences of the user by acquiring one or more tasteor flavor preferences of the user. For instance, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user dietarypreference information of the user 13 that indicates the one or moredietary preferences of the user 13 by acquiring or obtaining one or moretaste or flavor preferences (e.g., spicy preferences, sweetnesspreferences, tartness preferences, and so forth) of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 612 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 616 for acquiring theuser dietary preference information of the user that indicates the oneor more dietary preferences of the user by acquiring one or moreingredient preferences of the user as illustrated in FIG. 6C. Forinstance, the user preference information obtaining module 302* of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiringthe user dietary preference information of the user 13 that indicatesthe one or more dietary preferences of the user 13 by acquiring orobtaining one or more ingredient preferences (e.g., preference that beefingredient to be used be from a source that has been tested to be freeof prions or from other impurities, preference that chicken ingredientto be used be from Tyson farms, preference for whole milk ingredients,and so forth) of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 612 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 617 for acquiring theuser dietary preference information of the user that indicates the oneor more dietary preferences of the user by acquiring one or more dietaryschedules of the user. For instance, the user preference informationobtaining module 302* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user dietary preference informationof the user 13 that indicates the one or more dietary preferences of theuser 13 by acquiring or obtaining one or more dietary schedules (e.g.,diet plans) of the user 13. In some cases, the obtained dietary scheduleor schedules may indicate the food preference and the customizationpreference of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 612 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 618 for acquiring theuser dietary preference information of the user that indicates the oneor more dietary preferences of the user by acquiring one or more dietaryrestrictions of the user. For instance, the user preference informationobtaining module 302* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user dietary preference informationof the user 13 that indicates the one or more dietary preferences of theuser 13 by acquiring or obtaining one or more dietary restrictions(e.g., no peanuts, no dairy products, no pork, and so forth) of the user13.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 612 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 619 for acquiring theuser dietary preference information of the user that indicates the oneor more dietary preferences of the user by acquiring one or more dietaryneeds of the user. For instance, the user preference informationobtaining module 302* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user dietary preference informationof the user 13 that indicates the one or more dietary preferences of theuser 13 by acquiring or obtaining one or more dietary needs (e.g., needfor high iron ingredients, need for vitamin enriched ingredients, and soforth) of the user 13.

In various implementations, the user preference information acquiringoperation 502 may include an operation 620 for acquiring the userpreference information of the user that includes the one or moreingredient integrity preferences related to the integrity of the one ormore ingredients by acquiring user preference information that includesone or more preferences related to purity of the one or moreingredients. For instance, the user preference information obtainingmodule 302* of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) acquiring the user preference information of the user 13 thatincludes the one or more ingredient integrity preferences related to theintegrity of the one or more ingredients by acquiring or obtaining userpreference information that includes one or more preferences related topurity (e.g., free of impurities) of the one or more ingredients.

As further illustrated in FIG. 6C, in some cases, operation 620 mayfurther include an operation 621 for acquiring the user preferenceinformation that includes the one or more preferences related to thepurity of the one or more ingredients by acquiring user preferenceinformation that includes one or more preferences that one or moresources for the one or more ingredients were tested for presence orabsence of one or more impurities. For instance, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user preferenceinformation that includes the one or more preferences related to thepurity of the one or more ingredients by acquiring or obtaining userpreference information that includes one or more preferences that one ormore sources (e.g., farms, cattle herds, domesticated animals, harvestcrops, and so forth) for the one or more ingredients (e.g., meatingredients, dairy products, vegetable ingredients, and so forth) weretested for presence or absence of one or more impurities (e.g., viral orbacterial agents including, for example, prions, pesticides,antibiotics, heavy metals, and so forth).

In the same or alternative implementations, the user preferenceinformation acquiring operation 502 may additionally or alternativelyinclude an operation 622 for acquiring the user preference informationof the user that includes the one or more ingredient integritypreferences related to the integrity of the one or more ingredients byacquiring user preference information that includes one or more userpreferences that the one or more ingredients for use in generating theone or more customized food items were obtained from one or morespecified sources and/or from one or more specified locations. Forinstance, the user preference information obtaining module 302* of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiringthe user preference information of the user 13 that includes the one ormore ingredient integrity preferences related to the integrity of theone or more ingredients by acquiring or obtaining user preferenceinformation that includes one or more user preferences that the one ormore ingredients for use in generating the one or more customized fooditems were obtained from one or more specified sources (e.g., OscarMeyer, Jolly Green Giant, Dole, and so forth) and/or from one or morespecified locations (e.g., Kobe—Japan, Florida, and so forth).

In the same or alternative implementations, the user preferenceinformation acquiring operation 502 may additionally or alternativelyinclude an operation 623 for acquiring the user preference informationof the user that includes the one or more ingredient integritypreferences related to the integrity of the one or more ingredients byacquiring user preference information that includes one or more userpreferences that the one or more ingredients were not obtained from oneor more specified sources and/or one or more specified locations asillustrated in FIG. 6D. For instance, the user preference informationobtaining module 302* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user preference information of theuser 13 that includes the one or more ingredient integrity preferencesrelated to the integrity of the one or more ingredients by acquiring orobtaining user preference information that includes one or more userpreferences that the one or more ingredients were not obtained from oneor more specified sources (e.g., Tyson's chicken, Kirkland brand, DelMonte, and so forth) and/or one or more specified locations (e.g.,Britain, Mexico, and so forth).

In the same or alternative implementations, the user preferenceinformation acquiring operation 502 may additionally or alternativelyinclude an operation 624 for acquiring the user preference informationof the user including acquiring user behavior information indicating oneor more historical behaviors of the user that are indicative of one ormore past preferences of the user. For instance, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user preferenceinformation of the user 13 including acquiring or obtaining userbehavior information indicating one or more historical behaviors (e.g.,past purchasing information related to customized food items, past usageinformation of automated customized food generation machines, and soforth) of the user 13 that are indicative of one or more pastpreferences of the user 13.

In some implementations, operation 624 may actually include an operation625 for acquiring the user behavior information of the user indicatingthe one or more historical behaviors of the user that are indicative ofthe one or more past preferences of the user by acquiring historicaltravel or movement information of the user. For instance, the userpreference information obtaining module 302* of the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user behaviorinformation of the user 13 indicating the one or more historicalbehaviors of the user 13 that are indicative of the one or more pastpreferences of the user 13 by acquiring or obtaining historical travelor movement information of the user 13. In some cases, the acquisitionof such information may be helpful in determining which automatedcustomized food generation machines will the user 13 prefer to use orwill be willing to use.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 624 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 626 for acquiring theuser behavior information of the user indicating the one or morehistorical behaviors of the user that are indicative of the one or morepast preferences of the user by acquiring user historical usageinformation indicating past usage of one or more automated customizedfood generation machines by the user. For instance, the user preferenceinformation obtaining module 302* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user behaviorinformation of the user 13 indicating the one or more historicalbehaviors of the user 13 that are indicative of the one or more pastpreferences of the user 13 by acquiring or obtaining user historicalusage information indicating past usage of one or more automatedcustomized food generation machines 10* by the user 13. In some cases,obtaining such information may be helpful in predicting which automatedcustomized food generation machine machines 10* will the user 13 likelyemploy if directed to such machines.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 624 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 627 for acquiring theuser behavior information of the user indicating the one or morehistorical behaviors of the user that are indicative of the one or morepast preferences of the user by acquiring historical responseinformation indicating one or more historical user responses of the userin response to being previously presented with one or morerecommendations to use one or more specific automated customized foodgeneration machines. For instance, the user preference informationobtaining module 302* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring the user behavior information of theuser 13 indicating the one or more historical behaviors of the user 13that are indicative of the one or more past preferences of the user 13by acquiring or obtaining historical response information indicating oneor more historical user responses of the user 13 in response to beingpreviously presented with one or more recommendations to use one or morespecific automated customized food generation machines 10*. For example,if a user 13 has previously been directed to use a particular automatedcustomized food generation machine 10* but chose not to use theparticular automated customized food generation machine 10*, then suchpast behavior may indicate that the user 13 prefer not to use theparticular automated customized food generation machine 10*

In various implementations, the acquisition of at least a portion of theuser preference information may be in response to a number of factors.For example, in some cases, the user preference information acquiringoperation 502 may include an operation 628 for acquiring the userpreference information of the user by acquiring at least a portion ofthe user preference information in response, at least in part, todetermining that an automated customized food generation machine that isbeing interfaced by the user is unable to currently generate one or morecustomized food items in compliance with one or more customized foodpreferences of the user. For instance, the user preference informationobtaining module 302* including the user interfaced automated customizedfood generation machine unsatisfactory determining module 412 (see FIG.4A) of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b ofFIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)acquiring the user preference information of the user 13 by acquiring orobtaining at least a portion of the user preference information inresponse, at least in part, to the user interfaced automated customizedfood generation machine unsatisfactory determining module 412, forexample, determining that an automated customized food generationmachine 10′ (see, for example, FIG. 1B or 1D) that is being interfacedby the user 13 is unable to currently generate one or more customizedfood items 22 in full or total compliance with one or more customizedfood preferences of the user 13.

In some cases, operation 628 may further include an operation 629 foracquiring at least the portion of the user preference information inresponse, at least in part, to determining that the automated customizedfood generation machine that is being interfaced by the user does not atleast have sufficient quantity or quantities of one or more ingredientsthat are preferred by the user to be able to currently generate the oneor more customized food items in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user. For instance, the userpreference information obtaining module 302* including the deficientingredient supply determining module 414 (see FIG. 4A) of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) acquiring at least theportion of the user preference information in response, at least inpart, to the deficient ingredient supply determining module 414, forexample, determining that the automated customized food generationmachine 10′ (see, for example, FIG. 1B or 1D) that is being interfacedby the user 13 does not at least have sufficient quantity or quantitiesof one or more ingredients that are preferred by the user 13 to be ableto currently generate the one or more customized food items 22 in fullor total compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user 13.

Referring back to the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining operation 504 of FIG. 5, the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determiningoperation 504 similar to the user preference information acquiringoperation 502 of FIG. 5 may be executed in a number of different ways invarious alternative embodiments as illustrated, for example, in FIGS.7A, 7B, 7C, and 7D. In some cases, for example, the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining operation 504may actually include or involve an operation 730 for determining thatthere is no capable automated customized food generation machine presentin the nearby vicinity of the user that is able to currently generateone or more customized food items in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user by determining that there is nocapable automated customized food generation machine present in thenearby vicinity of the user that have one or more preferred ingredientsin one or more sufficient quantities to be able to currently generate atleast one customized food item in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user as illustrated in FIG. 7A. Forinstance, the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that there is nocapable automated customized food generation machine present in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items 22 in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13 by determining that there isno capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g., no“capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″ of, forexample, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity of theuser 13 that have one or more preferred ingredients in one or moresufficient quantities to be able to currently (e.g., at the time of thedetermination) generate at least one customized food item 22 incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user13.

As further illustrated in FIG. 7A, operation 730 may further include anoperation 731 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that have the one or more preferred ingredients in the one or moresufficient quantities to be able to currently generate at least onecustomized food item in compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user, the determination being based, at least inpart, on ingredient supply status data stored in memory that indicatesingredient supply status of one or more nearby automated customized foodgeneration machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user, theingredient supply status data having been previously provided by the oneor more nearby customized food generation machines. For instance, thecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine (e.g., no “capable” automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C,1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that have theone or more preferred ingredients in the one or more sufficientquantities to be able to currently generate at least one customized fooditem 22 in compliance with the one or more customized food preferencesof the user 13, the determination being based, at least in part, oningredient supply status data stored in memory 340 (see FIG. 3A, 3B, 3C,3D, or 3E) that indicates ingredient supply status of one or more nearbyautomated customized food generation machines 10* present in the nearbyvicinity of the user 13, the ingredient supply status data having beenpreviously provided by the one or more nearby customized food generationmachines 10*.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 730 mayadditionally or alternative include an operation 732 for determiningthat there is no capable automated customized food generation machinepresent in the nearby vicinity of the user that have the one or morepreferred ingredients in the one or more sufficient quantities to beable to currently generate at least one customized food item incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userby querying one or more nearby automated customized food generationmachines present in the nearby vicinity of the user in order todetermine whether any one or more of the one or more nearby automatedcustomized food generation machines have the one or more preferredingredients in the one or more sufficient quantities to be able tocurrently generate at least one customized food item in compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user. For instance,the capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304* including the automated customized foodgeneration machine querying module 416 (see FIG. 4B) of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that thereis no capable automated customized food generation machine present inthe nearby vicinity of the user 13 that have the one or more preferredingredients in the one or more sufficient quantities to be able tocurrently generate at least one customized food item 22 in full or totalcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user13 by having the automated customized food generation machine queryingmodule 416, for example, querying one or more nearby automatedcustomized food generation machines 10* present in the nearby vicinityof the user 13 in order to determine whether any one or more of the oneor more nearby automated customized food generation machines 10* havethe one or more preferred ingredients in the one or more sufficientquantities to be able to currently generate at least one customized fooditem 22 in full or complete compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user 13.

Turning now to FIG. 7B, in various implementations, the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determiningoperation 504 may include an operation 733 for determining that there isno capable automated customized food generation machine present in thenearby vicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items in compliance with the one or morecustomization preferences of the user by determining that there is nocapable automated customized food generation machine present within a 30minutes traveling distance via walking, mass transit, and/or automobilefrom a current location of the user. For instance, the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 304* ofthe automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3Aor 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items 22 incompliance with the one or more customization preferences of the user 13by determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine (e.g., no “capable” automated customized foodgeneration machine 10″″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E)present within a 30 minutes traveling distance via walking, masstransit, and/or automobile from a current location of the user 13 (e.g.,within a distance that may be traveled by the user 13 by walking, masstransit (e.g., buses or commuter trains) and/or automobile.

In some implementations, the+capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining operation 504 may include anoperation 734 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customization preferences ofthe user by determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present within half a mile from a currentlocation of the user. For instance, the capable automated customizedfood generation machine presence determining module 304* of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determiningthat there is no capable automated customized food generation machinepresent in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currentlygenerate one or more customized food items 22 in compliance with the oneor more customization preferences of the user 13 by determining thatthere is no capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g.,no “capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″ of, forexample, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present within half a mile from acurrent location (e.g., user location at the time of the determination)of the user 13.

In some alternative implementations, the capable automated customizedfood generation machine presence determining operation 504 may includean operation 735 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customization preferences ofthe user by determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present within one mile from a current locationof the user. For instance, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 304* of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that thereis no capable automated customized food generation machine present inthe nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currently generateone or more customized food items 22 in compliance with the one or morecustomization preferences of the user 13 by determining that there is nocapable automated customized food generation machine (e.g., no “capable”automated customized food generation machine 10″″ of, for example, FIGS.1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present within one mile from a current location ofthe user 13.

In still other implementations, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining operation 504 may include anoperation 736 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customization preferences ofthe user by determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present within five miles from a currentlocation of the user. For instance, the capable automated customizedfood generation machine presence determining module 304* of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determiningthat there is no capable automated customized food generation machinepresent in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currentlygenerate one or more customized food items 22 in compliance with the oneor more customization preferences of the user 13 by determining thatthere is no capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g.,there is no “capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present within five milesfrom a current location of the user 13.

In some implementations, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining operation 504 may include anoperation 737 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with one or more food preparation preferences of theuser. For instance, the preparation preference capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 418 (seeFIG. 4B) of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or3E) determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine (e.g., no “capable” automated customized foodgeneration machine 10″″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E)present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currentlygenerate one or more customized food items 22 in compliance with one ormore food preparation (e.g., heating and/or cooling) preferences of theuser 13.

Referring to FIG. 7C, in the same or alternative implementations, thecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining operation 504 may additionally or alternatively include anoperation 738 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with one or more taste or flavor preferences of theuser. For instance, the taste/flavor preference capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 420 (seeFIG. 4B) of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or3E) determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine (e.g., no “capable” automated customized foodgeneration machine 10″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E)present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currentlygenerate one or more customized food items 22 in compliance with one ormore taste or flavor preferences (e.g., spicy preferences, sweetnesspreference, beef flavor preferences, and so forth) of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining operation 504may additionally or alternatively include an operation 739 fordetermining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more ingredient preferences of the user. Forinstance, the ingredient preference capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 422 (see FIG. 4B) of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determiningthat there is no capable automated customized food generation machine(e.g., no “capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present in the nearbyvicinity of the user 13 that is able to currently generate one or morecustomized food items 22 in compliance with one or more ingredientpreferences (e.g., preference for beef rather than chicken, preferencefor low fat milk, preference for aspartame as a sweetener, and so forth)of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, the capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining operation 504may additionally or alternatively include an operation 740 fordetermining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userby determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more ingredient purity preferences of the user.For instance, the ingredient purity preference capable automatedcustomized food generation machine presence determining module 424 (seeFIG. 4B) of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or3E) determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items 22 incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user13 by determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine (e.g., no “capable” automated customized foodgeneration machine 10″″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E)present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currentlygenerate one or more customized food items 22 in compliance with one ormore ingredient purity preferences (e.g., preferences that sources foringredients to be used were tested to be free of impurities such asbacteria or viruses) of the user 13.

As further illustrated in FIG. 7C, operation 740 may further include anoperation 741 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with one or more preferences of the user that one ormore sources for one or more ingredients for the one or more customizedfood items were tested for presence or absence of one or more impuritiesin various implementations. For instance, the ingredient puritypreference capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 424 of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine (e.g., no “capable” automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C,1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is ableto currently generate one or more customized food items 22 in compliancewith one or more preferences of the user 13 that prefer that one or moresources (e.g., farm, cattle herd, harvest crop, and so forth) for one ormore ingredients for the one or more customized food items 22 weretested for presence or absence of one or more impurities (e.g., prions,bacterial agents, viral agents, heavy metals, pesticides, and so forth).

In some cases, operation 741 may, in turn, further include an operation742 for determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more preferences of the user that one or moresources for one or more ingredients for the one or more customized fooditems were tested to be free of the one or more impurities. Forinstance, the ingredient purity preference capable automated customizedfood generation machine presence determining module 424 of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that thereis no capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g., no“capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″ of, forexample, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity of theuser 13 that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems 22 in compliance with one or more preferences of the user 13 thatprefer that one or more sources (e.g., cattle, harvest crop, and soforth) for one or more ingredients for the one or more customized fooditems 22 were tested to be free of the one or more impurities (e.g.,prions, heavy metals, pesticides, and so forth).

In some cases, operation 741 may include an operation 743 fordetermining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more preferences of the user that one or moresources for one or more ingredients for the one or more customized fooditems were tested to have the one or more impurities below one or moredefined levels. For instance, the ingredient purity preference capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determining module424 of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b ofFIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine (e.g., no “capable” automated customized foodgeneration machine 10″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E)present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currentlygenerate one or more customized food items 22 in compliance with one ormore preferences of the user 13 that one or more sources (e.g., cattleherd) for one or more ingredients (e.g., beef) for the one or morecustomized food items 22 were tested to have the one or more impurities(e.g., antibiotics) below one or more defined levels.

Turning now to FIG. 7D, in various implementations, the capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determiningoperation 504 may include an operation 744 for determining that there isno capable automated customized food generation machine present in thenearby vicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items in compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user by determining that there is no capableautomated customized food generation machine present in the nearbyvicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one or morecustomized food items in compliance with one or more user preferencesthat one or more ingredients that are used for generating the one ormore customized food items were obtained from one or more specifiedsources. For instance, the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining module 304* including the ingredient sourcepreference capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 426 (see FIG. 4B) of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that there is nocapable automated customized food generation machine present in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items 22 in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13 by having, for example, theingredient source preference capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 426 determine that thereis no capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g., no“capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″ of, forexample, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity of theuser 13 that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems 22 in full compliance with one or more user preferences that oneor more ingredients (e.g., sausage) that are used for generating the oneor more customized food items 22 were obtained from one or morespecified sources (e.g., Oscar Meyer).

In some implementations, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining operation 504 may include anoperation 745 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user by determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatis able to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more user preferences that one or moreingredients that are used for generating the one or more customized fooditems were not obtained from one or more specified sources. Forinstance, the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304* including the ingredient sourcepreference capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 426 of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser 13 that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems 22 in compliance with the one or more customized food preferencesof the user 13 by having, for example, the ingredient source preferencecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 426 determine that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine (e.g., no “capable” automatedcustomized food generation machine 10″″ of, for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C,1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 that is ableto currently generate one or more customized food items 22 in fullcompliance with one or more user preferences that one or moreingredients (e.g., Chicken meat) that are used for generating the one ormore customized food items 22 were not obtained from one or morespecified sources (e.g., Tyson farms).

In some implementations, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining operation 504 may include anoperation 746 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user by determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatis able to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more user preferences that one or moreingredients that are used for generating the one or more customized fooditems were obtained from one or more specified locations. For instance,the capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 304* including the ingredient source locationpreference capable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining module 428 (see FIG. 4B) of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that there is nocapable automated customized food generation machine present in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items 22 in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13 by having, for example, theingredient source location preference capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 428 determine that thereis no capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g., thereis no “capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″ of,for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user 13 that is able to currently generate one or more customizedfood items 22 in compliance with one or more user preferences that oneor more ingredients (e.g., beef ingredient) that are used for generatingthe one or more customized food items 22 were obtained from one or morespecified locations (e.g., Kobe, Japan).

In some implementations, the capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining operation 504 may include anoperation 747 for determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user by determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatis able to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more user preferences that one or moreingredients that are used for generating the one or more customized fooditems were not obtained from one or more specified locations. Forinstance, the capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 304* including the ingredient sourcelocation preference capable automated customized food generation machinepresence determining module 428 of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) determining that there is nocapable automated customized food generation machine present in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 that is able to currently generate one ormore customized food items 22 in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13 by having, for example, theingredient source location preference capable automated customized foodgeneration machine presence determining module 428 determine that thereis no capable automated customized food generation machine (e.g., thereis no “capable” automated customized food generation machine 10″″ of,for example, FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E) present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user 13 that is able to currently generate one or more customizedfood items 22 in compliance with one or more user preferences that oneor more ingredients (e.g., beef ingredient) that are used for generatingthe one or more customized food items 22 were not obtained from one ormore specified locations (e.g., Britain where there was an outbreak ofmad cow disease).

Referring back to the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 of FIG. 5, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence identifyingoperation 506 similar to the user preference information acquiringoperation 502 and the capable automated customized food generationmachine presence determining operation 504 of FIG. 5 may be executed ina number of different ways in various alternative embodiments asillustrated, for example, in FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, and 8E. In somecases, for example, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 may actually include orinvolve an operation 848 for identifying the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines by determining one or moredescriptions of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines as illustrated in FIG. 8A. For instance, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* including the substitute automated customizedfood generation machine description ascertaining module 430 (see FIG.4C) of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b ofFIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)identifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines by having the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine description ascertaining module 430 determine orascertain one or more descriptions (e.g., machine number, specificlocation of the substitute machine in a store, machine color, and soforth) of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines (e.g., the “substitute” customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E).

As further illustrated in FIG. 8A, in the same or alternativeimplementations the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 506 may additionally oralternatively include an operation 849 for identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines includingidentifying one or more locations of the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines. For instance, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* including the substitute automated customizedfood generation machine location ascertaining module 432 (see FIG. 4C)of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG.3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)identifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines including identifying or ascertaining, by thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine locationascertaining module 432, of one or more locations of the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., the“substitute” customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS.1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E).

In the same or alternative implementations, the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence identifying operation 506may additionally or alternatively include an operation 850 foridentifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines including identifying one or more distances betweenthe current location of the user and one or more current locations ofthe one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines. For instance, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306* including theuser/substitute machine distance ascertaining module 434 (see FIG. 4C)of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG.3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)identifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines including identifying or ascertaining, by theuser/substitute machine distance ascertaining module 434, of one or moredistances between the current location of the user 13 and one or morecurrent locations of the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines (e.g., the “substitute” customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E).

In the same or alternative implementations, the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence identifying operation 506may additionally or alternatively include an operation 851 foridentifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines including identifying one or more travel routes froma current location of the user to one or more current locations of theone or more substitute automated customized food generation machines.For instance, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306* including the travel routeascertaining module 436 (see FIG. 4C) of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines includingidentifying or ascertaining, by the travel route ascertaining module436, of one or more travel routes from a current location of the user 13to one or more current locations of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the “substitute” customizedfood generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E).

In the same or alternative implementations, the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence identifying operation 506may additionally or alternatively include an operation 852 foridentifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user based, atleast in part, on ingredient supply status data stored in memory thatindicates ingredient supply status of one or more nearby automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user, the ingredient supply status data having been previouslyprovided by the one or more nearby customized food generation machines.For instance, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 based, at least in part, on ingredientsupply status data stored in memory 340 that indicates ingredient supplystatus of one or more nearby automated customized food generationmachines (e.g., the customized food generation machines 10′, 10″ and10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) present in the nearby vicinity(e.g., within three miles) of the user 13, the ingredient supply statusdata having been previously provided by the one or more nearbycustomized food generation machines (e.g., the customized foodgeneration machines 10′, 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E).

In the same or alternative implementations, the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence identifying operation 506may additionally or alternatively include an operation 853 foridentifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user byquerying one or more nearby automated customized food generationmachines present in the nearby vicinity of the user in order todetermine whether any one or more of the one or more nearby automatedcustomized food generation machines have appropriate ingredient suppliesto be able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user. For instance, the substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence ascertaining module 306*including the automated customized food generation machine queryingmodule 438 (see FIG. 4C) of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user 13 by having, for example, the automated customized foodgeneration machine querying module 438 query one or more nearbyautomated customized food generation machines (e.g., the customized foodgeneration machines 10′, 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E)present in the nearby vicinity (e.g., within five miles) of the user 13in order to determine whether any one or more of the one or more nearbyautomated customized food generation machines (e.g., the customized foodgeneration machines 10′, 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E)have appropriate ingredient supplies to be able to currently generate atleast one substitute customized food item (e.g., customized food item 22of, for example, FIG. 1A) that is only in partial compliance with theone or more customized food preferences of the user 13.

In some implementations, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence identifying operation 506 may include anoperation 854 for identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user by identifying only those substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines present within a half a mile from a current locationof the user as illustrated in FIG. 8B. For instance, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306* of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) identifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user 13 byidentifying or ascertaining only those substitute automated customizedfood generation machines (e.g., the customized food generation machines10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) present within a half amile from a current location of the user 13.

In some implementations, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence identifying operation 506 may include anoperation 855 for identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user by identifying only those substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines present within a mile from a current location of theuser. For instance, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 by identifying or ascertaining only thosesubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) present within a mile from a current location of theuser 13.

In some implementations, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence identifying operation 506 may include anoperation 856 for identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user by identifying only those substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines located within five miles from a current location ofthe user. For instance, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence ascertaining module 306* of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines present inthe nearby vicinity of the user 13 by identifying or ascertaining onlythose substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g.,the automated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS.1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) located within five miles from a current locationof the user 13.

In some implementations, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence identifying operation 506 may include anoperation 857 for identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user by identifying only those substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines present within a 30 minutes traveling distance viawalking, mass transit, and/or automobile from a current location of theuser. For instance, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user 13 by identifying or ascertaining only thosesubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) present within a 30 minutes traveling distance viawalking, mass transit, and/or automobile from a current location of theuser 13.

In some implementations, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence identifying operation 506 may include anoperation 858 for identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userby identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that do not have one or more preferred ingredients,as preferred by the user, in order to be able to currently generate oneor more customized food items in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user. For instance, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306* including the preferred ingredient deficient substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 440 (see FIG. 4C) of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item (e.g., customized food item22 of, for example, FIG. 1A) that is only in partial compliance with theone or more customized food preferences of the user 13 by having, forexample, the preferred ingredient deficient substitute automatedcustomized food generation machine presence ascertaining module 440identify or ascertain one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines (e.g., the automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that do not haveone or more preferred ingredients, as preferred by the user 13, in orderto be able to currently generate one or more customized food items 22 infull compliance with the one or more customized food preferences of theuser 13.

As further illustrated in FIG. 8B, operation 858 may further include, insome cases, an operation 859 for identifying the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines that do not have the oneor more preferred ingredients, as preferred by the user, in order to beable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userby identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that do not have the one or more preferredingredients in order to be able to currently generate one or morecustomized food items in compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user but which do have one or more substituteingredients that substitute for the one or more preferred ingredients inone or more sufficient quantities that only allows the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines to be able tocurrently generate one or more substitute customized food items that isonly in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user. For instance, the preferred ingredientdeficient substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 440 including the substitute ingredientstocked substitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 442 (see FIG. 4C) of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that do nothave the one or more preferred ingredients, as preferred by the user 13,in order to be able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems 22 in full or complete compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user 13 by having, for example, the substituteingredient stocked substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 442 identify or ascertain one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that do not have the one or more preferredingredients in order to be able to currently generate one or morecustomized food items in full or complete compliance with the one ormore customized food preferences of the user 13 but which do have one ormore substitute ingredients that substitute for the one or morepreferred ingredients in one or more sufficient quantities in order tobe able to currently generate one or more substitute customized fooditems (e.g., customized food items 22) in partial compliance with theone or more customized food preferences of the user 13.

Referring now to FIG. 8C, in various implementations, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence identifyingoperation 506 may include an operation 860 for identifying the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines that areable to currently generate at least one substitute customized food itemthat is only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user by identifying one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that have one or more preferredingredients, as preferred by the user, in one or more insufficientquantities that only allows the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines to be able to currently generate oneor more substitute customized food items that is only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user.For instance, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306* including the preferredingredient deficient substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 440 of the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that are ableto currently generate at least one substitute customized food item thatis only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user 13 by having, for example, the preferredingredient deficient substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 440 identify or ascertain one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that have one or more preferred ingredients, aspreferred by the user 13, in one or more insufficient quantities thatonly allows the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines to be able to currently generate one or moresubstitute customized food items (e.g., customized food items 22) thatis only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user 13.

In some implementations, the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence identifying operation 506 may include anoperation 861 for identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userby identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in substantial compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user. For instance,the substitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user13 by identifying or ascertaining one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem (e.g., customized food item 22 of, for example, FIG. 1A) that isonly in substantial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user 13.

In some cases, operation 861 may further include an operation 862 foridentifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in substantial compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user by identifyingone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is only in compliance with a majority of a plurality ofcustomized food preferences of the user. For instance, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306* of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) identifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is only in substantial compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user 13 byidentifying or ascertaining one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines (e.g., the automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able tocurrently generate at least one substitute customized food item (e.g.,customized food item 22) that is only in compliance with a majority of aplurality of customized food preferences of the user 13.

Turning now to FIG. 8D, in various implementations, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence identifyingoperation 506 may include an operation 863 for identifying the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines that areable to currently generate at least one substitute customized food itemthat is only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user by identifying one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is in compliance witha first one or more customized food preferences of the user and not incompliance with a second one or more customized food preferences of theuser. For instance, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that are ableto currently generate at least one substitute customized food item thatis only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user 13 by identifying or ascertaining one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item (e.g., customized food item 22 of, forexample, FIG. 1A) that is in compliance with a first one or morecustomized food preferences (e.g., ingredient purity preference) of theuser 13 and not in compliance with a second one or more customized foodpreferences (e.g., ingredient source preference) of the user 13.

As further illustrated in FIG. 8D, operation 863 may include one or moreadditional operations in various alternative implementations. Forexample, in some implementations, operation 863 may further include anoperation 864 for identifying one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is in compliance withone or more food preparation preferences of the user and not incompliance with one or more ingredient preferences of the user. Forinstance, the substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying or ascertaining one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item (e.g., customized food item 22 of, forexample, FIG. 1A) that is in compliance with one or more foodpreparation (e.g., heating and/or cooling) preferences of the user 13and not in compliance with one or more ingredient preferences (e.g.,preference for non-fat dairy ingredients) of the user 13.

In some implementations, operation 863 may include an operation 865 foridentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with one or more ingredientpreferences of the user and not in compliance with one or more foodpreparation preferences of the user. For instance, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306* of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) identifying or ascertaining one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem (e.g., customized food item 22 of, for example, FIG. 1A) that is incompliance with one or more ingredient preferences (e.g., preference forbeef ingredient) of the user 13 and not in compliance with one or morefood preparation preferences (e.g., preference for cooking beef withminimal heat) of the user 13.

In some implementations, operation 863 may include an operation 866 foridentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with one or more ingredientpreferences of the user and not in compliance with one or moreingredient integrity preferences of the user. For instance, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying or ascertaining one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences (e.g., preference for a particular vegetableingredient such as alfalfa sprouts) of the user 13 and not in compliancewith one or more ingredient integrity preferences (e.g., preference thatsource for vegetable ingredients, such as a farm or harvest crop, wastested to be free of certain bacteria) of the user 13.

In some implementations, operation 866 may further include an operation867 for identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences of the user and not in compliance with one ormore ingredient purity preferences of the user. For instance, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying or ascertaining one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences (e.g., preference for beef ingredient) of theuser 13 and not in compliance with one or more ingredient puritypreferences (e.g., preference that source of beef ingredient was testedto be free of prions) of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 866 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 868 for identifyingone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is in compliance with one or more ingredient preferencesof the user and not in compliance with one or more preferences of theuser related to obtaining or not obtaining one or more ingredients fromone or more specified sources and/or one or more specified locations.For instance, the substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customizedfood generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying or ascertaining one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences (e.g., preference for beef) of the user 13 andnot in compliance with one or more preferences of the user 13 related toobtaining or not obtaining one or more ingredients from one or morespecified sources and/or one or more specified locations (e.g.,preference for beef ingredients that are from Kobe, Japan).

In some implementations, operation 863 may include an operation 869 foridentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with one or more ingredientintegrity preferences of the user and not in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences of the user as illustrated in FIG. 8E. Forinstance, the substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying or ascertaining one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or moreingredient integrity preferences (e.g., preferences that vegetableingredients to be used were provided by a particular source such as DelMonte) of the user 13 and not in compliance with one or more ingredientpreferences (e.g., preference that alfalfa sprouts be used) of the user13.

In some implementations, operation 869 may further include an operation870 for identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or moreingredient purity preferences of the user and not in compliance with oneor more ingredient preferences of the user. For instance, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306* of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) identifying or ascertaining one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is in compliance with one or more ingredient puritypreferences (e.g., the sources for vegetable ingredients were tested tobe free of salmonella) of the user 13 and not in compliance with one ormore ingredient preferences (e.g., preference that alfalfa sprouts beused) of the user 13.

In some implementations, operation 869 may actually include an operation871 for identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or morepreferences of the user related to obtaining or not obtaining one ormore ingredients from one or more specified sources and/or from one ormore specified locations and not in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences of the user. For instance, the substituteautomated customized food generation machine presence ascertainingmodule 306* of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) identifying or ascertaining one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is in compliance with one or more preferences of the user 13related to obtaining or not obtaining one or more ingredients from oneor more specified sources and/or from one or more specified locations(e.g., preference that meat ingredients not be obtained from Britain)and not in compliance with one or more ingredient preferences (e.g.,preference for beef ingredients instead of chicken ingredients) of theuser 13.

In some implementations, operation 863 may include an operation 872 foridentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with a first one or moreingredient preferences of the user and not in compliance with a secondone or more ingredient preferences of the user. For instance, thesubstitute automated customized food generation machine presenceascertaining module 306* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying or ascertaining one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with a first oneor more ingredient preferences (e.g., preference for pecans) of the user13 and not in compliance with a second one or more ingredientpreferences (e.g., preference for using aspartame as a sweetener) of theuser 13.

In some implementations, operation 863 may include an operation 873 foridentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with a first one or moreingredient integrity preferences of the user and not in compliance witha second one or more ingredient integrity preferences of the user. Forinstance, the substitute automated customized food generation machinepresence ascertaining module 306* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) identifying or ascertaining one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with a first oneor more ingredient integrity preferences (e.g., preference that a sourcefor a beef ingredient was tested to be free of one or more specificviral agents) of the user 13 and not in compliance with a second one ormore ingredient integrity preferences (e.g., preference that a sourcefor chicken ingredients was tested to be free of salmonella) of the user13.

Turning now to FIG. 9 illustrating another operational flow 900.Operational flow 900 includes certain operations that mirror theoperations included in operational flow 500 of FIG. 5. These operationsinclude a user preference information acquiring operation 902, a capableautomated customized food generation machine presence determiningoperation 904, and a substitute automated customized food generationmachine presence identifying operation 906 that corresponds to andmirrors the user preference information acquiring operation 502, thecapable automated customized food generation machine presencedetermining operation 504, and the substitute automated customized foodgeneration machine presence identifying operation 506, respectively, ofFIG. 5.

In addition, operational flow 900 further includes an indicatorpresenting operation 908 for presenting, in response at least in part tothe identification, one or more indicators that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines. For instance,the indicator presenting module 308* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting, in response at leastin part to the identification (or ascertainment), one or more indicators(e.g., indicators 220* of FIG. 2A, 2B, or 2C) that identify the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E).

Referring now to FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C, which illustrate various waysthat the indicator presenting operation 908 may be executed in variousalternative implementations. For example, in some implementations, theindicator presenting operation 908 may include an operation 1075 forpresenting the one or more indicators that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines by audiblyand/or visually presenting the one or more indicators. For instance, theindicator presenting module 308* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B presenting the one ormore indicators that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines by audibly and/or visuallypresenting the one or more indicators (e.g., indicators 220* of FIG. 2A,2B, or 2C) via, for example, user interface 360 (e.g., a display such asa touchscreen and/or one or more speakers).

In some implementations, the indicator presenting operation 908 mayinclude an operation 1076 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines by transmitting to one or more computing devices one or moreelectronic indicators that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines. For instance, the indicatorpresenting module 308* including the electronic indicator communicatingmodule 444 (see FIG. 4D) of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one or more indicators 220* thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines by having, for example, the electronic indicator communicatingmodule 444 transmit or communicate to one or more computing devices 15(e.g., a mobile device such as a Smartphone or tablet computer) one ormore electronic indicators 220* that identify the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines (e.g., the automatedcustomized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D,and/or 1E).

In some implementations, the indicator presenting operation 908 mayinclude an operation 1077 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines by presenting one or more textual indicators that identify theone or more substitute automated customized food generation machines.For instance, the indicator presenting module 308* including the textualindicator presenting module 446 (see FIG. 4D) of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one ormore indicators 220* that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines by presenting (e.g., electronicallytransmitting or visually and/or audibly presenting) one or more textualindicators (see, for example, indicators 220 a, 220 b, or 220 c of FIG.2A, 2B, or 2C, each of which have textual components) that identify theone or more substitute automated customized food generation machines(e.g., the automated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ ofFIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E).

As further illustrated in FIG. 10A, in some implementations, operation1077 may further include an operation 1078 for presenting the one ormore textual indicators that identify the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines by presenting one or moretextual indicators that provide one or more addresses and/ordescriptions of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines. For instance, the textual indicator presentingmodule 446 of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3Dor 3E) presenting the one or more textual indicators 220* that identifythe one or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesby presenting one or more textual indicators (e.g., indicator 220 a or220 b of FIG. 2A or 2B) that provide one or more addresses and/ordescriptions of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines (e.g., the automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E).

In the same or alternative implementations, operation 1077 mayadditionally or alternatively include an operation 1079 for presentingthe one or more textual indicators that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines by presentingone or more textual indicators that provide travel instructions forreaching the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines from the current location of the user. For instance, thetextual indicator presenting module 446 of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one or more textualindicators 220* that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines by presenting one or more textualindicators (e.g., indicator 220 b of FIG. 2B) that provide travelinstructions for reaching the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) fromthe current location of the user 13.

In various implementations, the indicator presenting operation 908 mayinclude an operation 1080 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines by presenting one or more graphical indicators that graphicallydiscloses the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines. For instance, the indicator presenting module 308*including the graphical indicator presenting module 448 (see FIG. 4D) ofthe automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3Aor 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)presenting the one or more indicators 220* that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines by having, forexample, the graphical indicator presenting module 448 present (e.g.,electronically transmit or visually and/or audibly present) one or moregraphical indicators (e.g., indicator 220 c of FIG. 2C) that graphicallydiscloses the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines (e.g., the automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E).

In some cases, operation 1080 may further include an operation 1081 forpresenting the one or more graphical indicators that graphicallydiscloses the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines by presenting one or more maps that graphicallydiscloses one or more locations of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines and/or one or more routes to the oneor more locations of the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines from the current location of the user asillustrated in FIG. 10A. For instance, the graphical indicatorpresenting module 448 (see FIG. 4D) of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one or moregraphical indicators 220* that graphically discloses the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) by presenting (e.g., electronically transmitting orvisually and/or audibly presenting) one or more maps (see, for example,indicator 220 c of FIG. 2C) that graphically discloses one or morelocations of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines and/or one or more routes (e.g., route 232 of FIG.2C) to the one or more locations of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines from the current location of theuser 13.

Referring to FIG. 10B, in the same or alternative implementations, theindicator presenting operation 908 may additionally or alternativelyinclude an operation 1082 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines including presenting one or more indicators that indicate oneor more distances to one or more locations of the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines from a current location ofthe user. For instance, the indicator presenting module 308* includingthe distance indicator presenting module 450 (see FIG. 4D) of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presentingthe one or more indicators 220* that identify the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines including presenting, bythe distance indicator presenting module 450, for example, one or moreindicators (e.g., indicator 220 a or 220 b of FIG. 2A or 2B) thatindicate one or more distances to one or more locations of the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E) from a current location of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, the indicator presentingoperation 908 may additionally or alternatively include an operation1083 for presenting the one or more indicators that identify the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines includingpresenting one or more indicators that specifies one or more customizedfood preference deficiencies relative to the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user of one or more substitute customized food itemsthat the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines are able to currently generate. For instance, the indicatorpresenting module 308* including the substitute customized food itemdeficiency indicator presenting module 452 (see FIG. 4D) of theautomated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presentingthe one or more indicators 220* that identify the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines including presenting, bythe substitute customized food item deficiency indicator presentingmodule 452, for example, one or more indicators (e.g., indicator 220 aof FIG. 2A) that specifies one or more customized food preferencedeficiencies relative to the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user 13 of one or more substitute customized food items that the oneor more substitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g.,the automated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS.1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) are able to currently generate.

In the same or alternative implementations, the indicator presentingoperation 908 may additionally or alternatively include an operation1084 for presenting the one or more indicators that identify the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines includingpresenting one or more indicators that specifically identify the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines as beinglocated along one or more past travel paths of the user. For instance,the indicator presenting module 308* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one or moreindicators 220* that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines including presenting (e.g.,electronically transmitting or visually and/or audibly presenting) oneor more indicators (e.g., indicator 220 a of FIG. 2A) that specificallyidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines as being located along one or more past travel paths of theuser 13 (note that in FIG. 2A, indicator 220 a indicates that option 1is “along user travel path”).

In the same or alternative implementations, the indicator presentingoperation 908 may additionally or alternatively include an operation1085 for presenting the one or more indicators that identify the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines includingpresenting one or more indicators that provide one or more pricesassociated with one or more substitute customized food items that theone or more substitute automated customized food generation machines areable to currently generate and that are only in partial compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user. For instance,the indicator presenting module 308* of the automated customized foodgeneration machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the networkdevice 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one or moreindicators 220* that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines including presenting (e.g.,electronically transmitting or visually and/or audibly presenting) oneor more indicators (e.g., indicator 220 a of FIG. 2A) that provide oneor more prices associated with one or more substitute customized fooditems that the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines (e.g., the automated customized food generationmachines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) are able tocurrently generate and that are only in partial compliance with the oneor more customized food preferences of the user 13.

In the same or alternative implementations, the indicator presentingoperation 908 may additionally or alternatively include an operation1086 for presenting the one or more indicators that identify the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines, theidentification of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines by the one or more presented indicators being inresponse, at least in part, on one or more determined locations of theone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesrelative to the location of the user. For instance, the indicatorpresenting module 308* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one or more indicators (e.g.,indicator 220 a or 220 c of FIG. 2A or 2C) that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E), the identification of the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines (e.g., indicator 220 a or220 c of FIG. 2A or 2C) being in response, at least in part, on one ormore determined locations of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines relative to the location of the user13 (e.g., only those substitute customized food generation machines thatis closest to the user 13 may be identified rather than identifying allnearby substitute customized food generation machines).

In some implementations, the indicator presenting operation 908 mayinclude an operation 1087 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines, the identification of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines by the one or more presentedindicators being in response, at least in part, to one or moredetermined locations of the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines relative to one or more past travel paths ofthe user as illustrated in FIG. 10C. For instance, the indicatorpresenting module 308* of the automated customized food generationmachine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one or more indicators 220* thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines (e.g., the automated customized food generation machines 10″and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E), the identification of the oneor more substitute automated customized food generation machines by theone or more presented indicators 220* being in response, at least inpart, to one or more determined locations of the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines relative to one or morepast travel paths of the user 13. For example, in some cases, only thosesubstitute automated customized food generation machines that arelocated along or near (e.g., within 100 yards) the past travel paths ofthe user 13 may be listed (e.g., in FIG. 2A, only option 1 may be listedas option 2 is not located along or near the past travel paths of theuser 13). In such cases, an option could also be provided (e.g. providedthrough, for example, a graphical user interface), that allows the user13 to elect to have all nearby substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines including those that are not located along or nearthe past travel paths of the user 13.

In some implementations, the indicator presenting operation 908 mayinclude an operation 1088 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines, the identification of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines by the one or more presentedindicators being in response, at least in part, on one or moreidentified prices of one or more substitute customized food items thatthe one or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesare able to currently generate and that are only in partial compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user. Forinstance, the indicator presenting module 308* of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one ormore indicators 220* that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E), theidentification of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines by the one or more presented indicators 220* beingin response, at least in part, on one or more identified prices of oneor more substitute customized food items that the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines are able to currentlygenerate and that are only in partial compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user 13. For example, in some cases,only those nearby substitute automated customized food generationmachines that sell the cheapest substitute customized food items may atleast be initially identified. Of course, in such cases, the user 13 maybe provided with an option (e.g., via graphical user interface) to electto have all nearby substitute automated customized food generationmachines identified.

In some implementations, the indicator presenting operation 908 mayinclude an operation 1089 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines, the identification of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines by the one or more presentedindicators being in response, at least in part, to detected past usageof the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines by the user. For instance, the indicator presenting module 308*of the automated customized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG.3A or 3B (or of the network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E)presenting the one or more indicators 220* that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines (e.g., theautomated customized food generation machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B,1C, 1D, and/or 1E), the identification of the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines by the one or morepresented indicators 220* being in response, at least in part, todetected past usage of the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines by the user 13. For example, in some cases, auser 13 may prefer to use automated customized food generation machinesthat the user 13 has previously used. Thus, in some cases, only thosenearby substitute automated customized food generation machines that theuser 13 has previously used may at least be initially identified. Again,the user 13 may also be given an option (e.g., via graphical userinterface) to view other nearby substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines even if they were never previously used by the user13.

In some implementations, the indicator presenting operation 908 mayinclude an operation 1090 for presenting the one or more indicators thatidentify the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines in response to the identification of the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines and in response to thedetermination that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user. Forinstance, the indicator presenting module 308* of the automatedcustomized food generation machine 10 a or 10 b of FIG. 3A or 3B (or ofthe network device 12 a or 12 b of FIG. 3D or 3E) presenting the one ormore indicators 220* that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines (e.g., the automated customized foodgeneration machines 10″ and 10′″ of FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1D, and/or 1E) inresponse to the identification of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines and in response to the determinationthat there is no capable automated customized food generation machinespresent in the nearby vicinity (e.g., within 30 minutes walkingdistance) of the user 13.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.).

It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specificnumber of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intentwill be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of suchrecitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to claims containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations).

Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C”would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone,C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general sucha construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “Aor B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A”or “B” or “A and B.”

With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art willappreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed inany order. Also, although various operational flows are presented in asequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may beperformed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may beperformed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may includeoverlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental,preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variantorderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like“responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives aregenerally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictatesotherwise.

In some instances, one or more components may have been referred toherein as “configured to,” “configured by,” “configurable to,”“operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,”“conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognizethat such terms (e.g. “configured to”) generally encompass active-statecomponents and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-statecomponents, unless context requires otherwise.

This application may make reference to one or more trademarks, e.g., aword, letter, symbol, or device adopted by one manufacturer or merchantand used to identify and/or distinguish his or her product from those ofothers. Trademark names used herein are set forth in such language thatmakes clear their identity, that distinguishes them from commondescriptive nouns, that have fixed and definite meanings, or, in many ifnot all cases, are accompanied by other specific identification usingterms not covered by trademark. In addition, trademark names used hereinhave meanings that are well-known and defined in the literature, or donot refer to products or compounds for which knowledge of one or moretrade secrets is required in order to divine their meaning. Alltrademarks referenced in this application are the property of theirrespective owners, and the appearance of one or more trademarks in thisapplication does not diminish or otherwise adversely affect the validityof the one or more trademarks. All trademarks, registered orunregistered, that appear in this application are assumed to include aproper trademark symbol, e.g., the circle R or bracketed capitalization(e.g., [trademark name]), even when such trademark symbol does notexplicitly appear next to the trademark. To the extent a trademark isused in a descriptive manner to refer to a product or process, thattrademark should be interpreted to represent the corresponding productor process as of the date of the filing of this patent application.

Throughout this application, the terms “in an embodiment,” ‘in oneembodiment,” “in some embodiments,” “in several embodiments,” “in atleast one embodiment,” “in various embodiments,” and the like, may beused. Each of these terms, and all such similar terms should beconstrued as “in at least one embodiment, and possibly but notnecessarily all embodiments,” unless explicitly stated otherwise.Specifically, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the intent of phraseslike these is to provide non-exclusive and non-limiting examples ofimplementations of the invention. The mere statement that one, some, ormay embodiments include one or more things or have one or more features,does not imply that all embodiments include one or more things or haveone or more features, but also does not imply that such embodiments mustexist. It is a mere indicator of an example and should not beinterpreted otherwise, unless explicitly stated as such.

A sale of a system or method may likewise occur in a territory even ifcomponents of the system or method are located and/or used outside theterritory. Further, implementation of at least part of a system forperforming a method in one territory does not preclude use of the systemin another territory

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious embodiments described herein can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by various types of electro-mechanical systemshaving a wide range of electrical components such as hardware, software,firmware, and/or virtually any combination thereof, limited topatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101; and a wide range ofcomponents that may impart mechanical force or motion such as rigidbodies, spring or torsional bodies, hydraulics, electro-magneticallyactuated devices, and/or virtually any combination thereof.Consequently, as used herein, “electro-mechanical system” includes, butis not limited to, electrical circuitry operably coupled with atransducer (e.g., an actuator, a motor, a piezoelectric crystal, a MicroElectro Mechanical System (MEMS), etc.), electrical circuitry having atleast one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least oneapplication specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming ageneral purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g.,a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which atleast partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein,or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at leastpartially carries out processes and/or devices described herein),electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of memory(e.g., random access, flash, read only, etc.)), electrical circuitryforming a communications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch,optical-electrical equipment, etc.), and/or any non-electrical analogthereto, such as optical or other analogs (e.g., graphene basedcircuitry). Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that examplesof electro-mechanical systems include, but are not limited to, a varietyof consumer electronics systems, medical devices, as well as othersystems such as motorized transport systems, factory automation systems,security systems, and/or communication/computing systems. Those skilledin the art will recognize that electro-mechanical as used herein is notnecessarily limited to a system that has both electrical and mechanicalactuation except as context may dictate otherwise.

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious aspects described herein which can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware,and/or any combination thereof can be viewed as being composed ofvarious types of “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein“electrical circuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electricalcircuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electricalcircuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitryhaving at least one application specific integrated circuit, electricalcircuitry forming a general purpose computing device configured by acomputer program (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by acomputer program which at least partially carries out processes and/ordevices described herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computerprogram which at least partially carries out processes and/or devicesdescribed herein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g.,forms of memory (e.g., random access, flash, read only, etc.)), and/orelectrical circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem,communications switch, optical-electrical equipment, etc.). Those havingskill in the art will recognize that the subject matter described hereinmay be implemented in an analog or digital fashion or some combinationthereof.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of thedevices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a dataprocessing system. Those having skill in the art will recognize that adata processing system generally includes one or more of a system unithousing, a video display device, memory such as volatile or non-volatilememory, processors such as microprocessors or digital signal processors,computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphicaluser interfaces, and application programs, one or more interactiondevices (e.g., a touch pad, a touch screen, an antenna, etc.), and/orcontrol systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g.,feedback for sensing position and/or velocity; control motors for movingand/or adjusting components and/or quantities). A data processing systemmay be implemented utilizing suitable commercially available components,such as those typically found in data computing/communication and/ornetwork computing/communication systems.

In certain cases, use of a system or method may occur in a territoryeven if components are located outside the territory. For example, in adistributed computing context, use of a distributed computing system mayoccur in a territory even though parts of the system may be locatedoutside of the territory (e.g., relay, server, processor, signal-bearingmedium, transmitting computer, receiving computer, etc. located outsidethe territory).

For the purposes of this application, “cloud” computing may beunderstood as described in the cloud computing literature. For example,cloud computing may be methods and/or systems for the delivery ofcomputational capacity and/or storage capacity as a service. The “cloud”may refer to one or more hardware and/or software components thatdeliver or assist in the delivery of computational and/or storagecapacity, including, but not limited to, one or more of a client, anapplication, a platform, an infrastructure, and/or a server. The cloudmay refer to any of the hardware and/or software associated with aclient, an application, a platform, an infrastructure, and/or a server.For example, cloud and cloud computing may refer to one or more of acomputer, a processor, a storage medium, a router, a switch, a modem, avirtual machine (e.g., a virtual server), a data center, an operatingsystem, a middleware, a firmware, a hardware back-end, a softwareback-end, and/or a software application. A cloud may refer to a privatecloud, a public cloud, a hybrid cloud, and/or a community cloud. A cloudmay be a shared pool of configurable computing resources, which may bepublic, private, semi-private, distributable, scaleable, flexible,temporary, virtual, and/or physical. A cloud or cloud service may bedelivered over one or more types of network, e.g., a mobilecommunication network, and the Internet.

As used in this application, a cloud or a cloud service may include oneor more of infrastructure-as-a-service (“IaaS”), platform-as-a-service(“PaaS”), software-as-a-service (“SaaS”), and/or desktop-as-a-service(“DaaS”). As a non-exclusive example, IaaS may include, e.g., one ormore virtual server instantiations that may start, stop, access, and/orconfigure virtual servers and/or storage centers (e.g., providing one ormore processors, storage space, and/or network resources on-demand,e.g., EMC and Rackspace). PaaS may include, e.g., one or more softwareand/or development tools hosted on an infrastructure (e.g., a computingplatform and/or a solution stack from which the client can createsoftware interfaces and applications, e.g., Microsoft Azure). SaaS mayinclude, e.g., software hosted by a service provider and accessible overa network (e.g., the software for the application and/or the dataassociated with that software application may be kept on the network,e.g., Google Apps, SalesForce). DaaS may include, e.g., providingdesktop, applications, data, and/or services for the user over a network(e.g., providing a multi-application framework, the applications in theframework, the data associated with the applications, and/or servicesrelated to the applications and/or the data over the network, e.g.,Citrix). The foregoing is intended to be exemplary of the types ofsystems and/or methods referred to in this application as “cloud” or“cloud computing” and should not be considered complete or exhaustive.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein describedcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussionaccompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptualclarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated.Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and theaccompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their moregeneral classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended tobe representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specificcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be takenas limiting.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures may beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected” or “operablycoupled” to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any twocomponents capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being“operably couplable” to each other to achieve the desired functionality.Specific examples of operably couplable include, but are not limited, tophysically mateable and/or physically interacting components, and/orwirelessly interactable, and/or wirelessly interacting components,and/or logically interacting, and/or logically interactable components.

Although one or more users may be shown and/or described herein as asingle illustrated figure, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatone or more users may be representative of one or more human users,robotic users (e.g., computational entity), and/or substantially anycombination thereof (e.g., a user may be assisted by one or more roboticagents) unless context dictates otherwise. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that, in general, the same may be said of “sender” and/orother entity-oriented terms as such terms are used herein unless contextdictates otherwise.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specificexemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies arerepresentative of more general processes and/or devices and/ortechnologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

1. A computationally-implemented method, comprising: acquiring userpreference information of a user that indicates one or more customizedfood preferences of the user including at least one or more ingredientintegrity preferences related to integrity of one or more ingredients;determining that there is no capable automated customized foodgeneration machine present in nearby vicinity of the user that is ableto currently generate one or more customized food items in compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user; andidentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines present in the nearby vicinity of the user that are able tocurrently generate at least one substitute customized food item that isonly in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user. 2-8. (canceled)
 9. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said acquiringuser preference information of a user that indicates one or morecustomized food preferences of the user including at least one or moreingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one or moreingredients comprises: acquiring the user preference information of theuser by acquiring the user preference information in response todetecting that the user being spatially near one or more automatedcustomized food generation machines that are designed to generatecustomized food items.
 10. (canceled)
 11. (canceled)
 12. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said acquiringuser preference information of a user that indicates one or morecustomized food preferences of the user including at least one or moreingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one or moreingredients comprises: acquiring the user preference information of theuser that indicates the one or more customized food preferences of theuser by acquiring user dietary preference information of the user thatindicates one or more dietary preferences of the user.
 13. (canceled)14. The computationally-implemented method of claim 12, wherein saidacquiring the user preference information of the user that indicates theone or more customized food preferences of the user by acquiring userdietary preference information of the user that indicates one or moredietary preferences of the user comprises: acquiring the user dietarypreference information of the user that indicates the one or moredietary preferences of the user by acquiring user dietary information ofthe user that indicates one or more food preparation preferences of theuser for preparing the one or more customized food items.
 15. (canceled)16. (canceled)
 17. The computationally-implemented method of claim 12,wherein said acquiring the user preference information of the user thatindicates the one or more customized food preferences of the user byacquiring user dietary preference information of the user that indicatesone or more dietary preferences of the user comprises: acquiring theuser dietary preference information of the user that indicates the oneor more dietary preferences of the user by acquiring one or more dietaryschedules of the user.
 18. (canceled)
 19. (canceled)
 20. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said acquiringuser preference information of a user that indicates one or morecustomized food preferences of the user including at least one or moreingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one or moreingredients comprises: acquiring the user preference information of theuser that includes the one or more ingredient integrity preferencesrelated to the integrity of the one or more ingredients by acquiringuser preference information that includes one or more preferencesrelated to purity of the one or more ingredients.
 21. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 20, wherein said acquiringthe user preference information of the user that includes the one ormore ingredient integrity preferences related to the integrity of theone or more ingredients by acquiring user preference information thatincludes one or more preferences related to purity of the one or moreingredients comprises: acquiring the user preference information thatincludes the one or more preferences related to the purity of the one ormore ingredients by acquiring user preference information that includesone or more preferences that one or more sources for the one or moreingredients were tested for presence or absence of one or moreimpurities.
 22. The computationally-implemented method of claim 1,wherein said acquiring user preference information of a user thatindicates one or more customized food preferences of the user includingat least one or more ingredient integrity preferences related tointegrity of one or more ingredients comprises: acquiring the userpreference information of the user that includes the one or moreingredient integrity preferences related to the integrity of the one ormore ingredients by acquiring user preference information that includesone or more user preferences that the one or more ingredients for use ingenerating the one or more customized food items were obtained from oneor more specified sources and/or from one or more specified locations.23. The computationally-implemented method of claim 1, wherein saidacquiring user preference information of a user that indicates one ormore customized food preferences of the user including at least one ormore ingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one ormore ingredients comprises: acquiring the user preference information ofthe user that includes the one or more ingredient integrity preferencesrelated to the integrity of the one or more ingredients by acquiringuser preference information that includes one or more user preferencesthat the one or more ingredients were not obtained from one or morespecified sources and/or one or more specified locations.
 24. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said acquiringuser preference information of a user that indicates one or morecustomized food preferences of the user including at least one or moreingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one or moreingredients comprises: acquiring the user preference information of theuser including acquiring user behavior information indicating one ormore historical behaviors of the user that are indicative of one or morepast preferences of the user.
 25. The computationally-implemented methodof claim 24, wherein said acquiring the user preference information ofthe user including acquiring user behavior information indicating one ormore historical behaviors of the user that are indicative of one or morepast preferences of the user comprises: acquiring the user behaviorinformation of the user indicating the one or more historical behaviorsof the user that are indicative of the one or more past preferences ofthe user by acquiring historical travel or movement information of theuser.
 26. The computationally-implemented method of claim 24, whereinsaid acquiring the user preference information of the user includingacquiring user behavior information indicating one or more historicalbehaviors of the user that are indicative of one or more pastpreferences of the user comprises: acquiring the user behaviorinformation of the user indicating the one or more historical behaviorsof the user that are indicative of the one or more past preferences ofthe user by acquiring user historical usage information indicating pastusage of one or more automated customized food generation machines bythe user.
 27. (canceled)
 28. The computationally-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein said acquiring user preference information of a userthat indicates one or more customized food preferences of the userincluding at least one or more ingredient integrity preferences relatedto integrity of one or more ingredients comprises: acquiring the userpreference information of the user by acquiring at least a portion ofthe user preference information in response, at least in part, todetermining that an automated customized food generation machine that isbeing interfaced by the user is unable to currently generate one or morecustomized food items in compliance with one or more customized foodpreferences of the user. 29-38. (canceled)
 39. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said determiningthat there is no capable automated customized food generation machinepresent in nearby vicinity of the user that is able to currentlygenerate one or more customized food items in compliance with the one ormore customized food preferences of the user comprises: determining thatthere is no capable automated customized food generation machine presentin the nearby vicinity of the user that is able to currently generateone or more customized food items in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences of the user.
 40. The computationally-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein said determining that there is no capableautomated customized food generation machine present in nearby vicinityof the user that is able to currently generate one or more customizedfood items in compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user comprises: determining that there is no capableautomated customized food generation machine present in the nearbyvicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one or morecustomized food items in compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user by determining that there is no capableautomated customized food generation machine present in the nearbyvicinity of the user that is able to currently generate one or morecustomized food items in compliance with one or more ingredient puritypreferences of the user.
 41. The computationally-implemented method ofclaim 40, wherein said determining that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of theuser that is able to currently generate one or more customized fooditems in compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user by determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatis able to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more ingredient purity preferences of the usercomprises: determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatis able to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with one or more preferences of the user that one or moresources for one or more ingredients for the one or more customized fooditems were tested for presence or absence of one or more impurities.42-52. (canceled)
 53. The computationally-implemented method of claim 1,wherein said identifying one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user comprises: identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user by querying one or more nearby automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user in order to determine whether any one or more of the one ormore nearby automated customized food generation machines haveappropriate ingredient supplies to be able to currently generate atleast one substitute customized food item that is only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user.54. (canceled)
 55. The computationally-implemented method of claim 1,wherein said identifying one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user comprises: identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user by identifying only those substituteautomated customized food generation machines present within a mile froma current location of the user.
 56. (canceled)
 57. (canceled)
 58. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said identifyingone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinespresent in the nearby vicinity of the user that are able to currentlygenerate at least one substitute customized food item that is only inpartial compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user comprises: identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userby identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that do not have one or more preferred ingredients,as preferred by the user, in order to be able to currently generate oneor more customized food items in compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user.
 59. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 58, wherein said identifyingthe one or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is only in partial compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user by identifying one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that do nothave one or more preferred ingredients, as preferred by the user, inorder to be able to currently generate one or more customized food itemsin compliance with the one or more customized food preferences of theuser comprises: identifying the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that do not have the one or morepreferred ingredients, as preferred by the user, in order to be able tocurrently generate one or more customized food items in compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user by identifyingone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat do not have the one or more preferred ingredients in order to beable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userbut which do have one or more substitute ingredients that substitute forthe one or more preferred ingredients in one or more sufficientquantities that only allows the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines to be able to currently generate oneor more substitute customized food items that is only in partialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user.60. (canceled)
 61. The computationally-implemented method of claim 1,wherein said identifying one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user comprises: identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that are ableto currently generate at least one substitute customized food item thatis only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user by identifying one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is in substantialcompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the user.62. The computationally-implemented method of claim 61, wherein saididentifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is only in partial compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user by identifyingone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is in substantial compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user comprises: identifying the oneor more substitute automated customized food generation machines thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is in substantial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user by identifying one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines that are able to currentlygenerate at least one substitute customized food item that is only incompliance with a majority of a plurality of customized food preferencesof the user.
 63. The computationally-implemented method of claim 1,wherein said identifying one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines present in the nearby vicinity of the user thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is only in partial compliance with the one or more customizedfood preferences of the user comprises: identifying the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that are ableto currently generate at least one substitute customized food item thatis only in partial compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user by identifying one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines that are able to currently generateat least one substitute customized food item that is in compliance witha first one or more customized food preferences of the user and not incompliance with a second one or more customized food preferences of theuser.
 64. (canceled)
 65. (canceled)
 66. The computationally-implementedmethod of claim 63, wherein said identifying the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines that are able to currentlygenerate at least one substitute customized food item that is only inpartial compliance with the one or more customized food preferences ofthe user by identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with a first oneor more customized food preferences of the user and not in compliancewith a second one or more customized food preferences of the usercomprises: identifying one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences of the user and not in compliance with one ormore ingredient integrity preferences of the user.
 67. (canceled) 68.The computationally-implemented method of claim 66, wherein saididentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with one or more ingredientpreferences of the user and not in compliance with one or moreingredient integrity preferences of the user comprises: identifying oneor more substitute automated customized food generation machines thatare able to currently generate at least one substitute customized fooditem that is in compliance with one or more ingredient preferences ofthe user and not in compliance with one or more preferences of the userrelated to obtaining or not obtaining one or more ingredients from oneor more specified sources and/or one or more specified locations. 69.The computationally-implemented method of claim 63, wherein saididentifying the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines that are able to currently generate at least onesubstitute customized food item that is only in partial compliance withthe one or more customized food preferences of the user by identifyingone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is in compliance with a first one or more customized foodpreferences of the user and not in compliance with a second one or morecustomized food preferences of the user comprises: identifying one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines that areable to currently generate at least one substitute customized food itemthat is in compliance with one or more ingredient integrity preferencesof the user and not in compliance with one or more ingredientpreferences of the user.
 70. (canceled)
 71. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 69, wherein said identifyingone or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is in compliance with one or more ingredient integritypreferences of the user and not in compliance with one or moreingredient preferences of the user comprises: identifying one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that are ableto currently generate at least one substitute customized food item thatis in compliance with one or more preferences of the user related toobtaining or not obtaining one or more ingredients from one or morespecified sources and/or from one or more specified locations and not incompliance with one or more ingredient preferences of the user.
 72. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 63, wherein said identifyingthe one or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesthat are able to currently generate at least one substitute customizedfood item that is only in partial compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user by identifying one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines that are ableto currently generate at least one substitute customized food item thatis in compliance with a first one or more customized food preferences ofthe user and not in compliance with a second one or more customized foodpreferences of the user comprises: identifying one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines that are able to currentlygenerate at least one substitute customized food item that is incompliance with a first one or more ingredient preferences of the userand not in compliance with a second one or more ingredient preferencesof the user.
 73. The computationally-implemented method of claim 63,wherein said identifying the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines that are able to currently generate at leastone substitute customized food item that is only in partial compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user byidentifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with a first one or morecustomized food preferences of the user and not in compliance with asecond one or more customized food preferences of the user comprises:identifying one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is in compliance with a first one or moreingredient integrity preferences of the user and not in compliance witha second one or more ingredient integrity preferences of the user. 74.The computationally-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:presenting, in response at least in part to the identification, one ormore indicators that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines. 75-79. (canceled)
 80. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 74, wherein said presenting,in response at least in part to the identification, one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines comprises: presenting the one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines by presenting one or more graphical indicatorsthat graphically discloses the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines.
 81. (canceled)
 82. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 74, wherein said presenting,in response at least in part to the identification, one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines comprises: presenting the one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines including presenting one or more indicatorsthat indicate one or more distances to one or more locations of the oneor more substitute automated customized food generation machines from acurrent location of the user.
 83. The computationally-implemented methodof claim 74, wherein said presenting, in response at least in part tothe identification, one or more indicators that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines comprises:presenting the one or more indicators that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines includingpresenting one or more indicators that specifies one or more customizedfood preference deficiencies relative to the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user of one or more substitute customized food itemsthat the one or more substitute automated customized food generationmachines are able to currently generate.
 84. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 74, wherein said presenting,in response at least in part to the identification, one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines comprises: presenting the one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines including presenting one or more indicatorsthat specifically identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines as being located along one or morepast travel paths of the user.
 85. The computationally-implementedmethod of claim 74, wherein said presenting, in response at least inpart to the identification, one or more indicators that identify the oneor more substitute automated customized food generation machinescomprises: presenting the one or more indicators that identify the oneor more substitute automated customized food generation machinesincluding presenting one or more indicators that provide one or moreprices associated with one or more substitute customized food items thatthe one or more substitute automated customized food generation machinesare able to currently generate and that are only in partial compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user.
 86. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 74, wherein said presenting,in response at least in part to the identification, one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines comprises: presenting the one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines, the identification of the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines by the one ormore presented indicators being in response, at least in part, on one ormore determined locations of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines relative to the location of theuser.
 87. The computationally-implemented method of claim 74, whereinsaid presenting, in response at least in part to the identification, oneor more indicators that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines comprises: presenting the one ormore indicators that identify the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines, the identification of the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines by the oneor more presented indicators being in response, at least in part, to oneor more determined locations of the one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines relative to one or more past travelpaths of the user.
 88. The computationally-implemented method of claim74, wherein said presenting, in response at least in part to theidentification, one or more indicators that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines comprises:presenting the one or more indicators that identify the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines, theidentification of the one or more substitute automated customized foodgeneration machines by the one or more presented indicators being inresponse, at least in part, on one or more identified prices of one ormore substitute customized food items that the one or more substituteautomated customized food generation machines are able to currentlygenerate and that are only in partial compliance with the one or morecustomized food preferences of the user.
 89. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 74, wherein said presenting,in response at least in part to the identification, one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines comprises: presenting the one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines, the identification of the one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines by the one ormore presented indicators being in response, at least in part, todetected past usage of the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines by the user.
 90. Thecomputationally-implemented method of claim 74, wherein said presenting,in response at least in part to the identification, one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines comprises: presenting the one or moreindicators that identify the one or more substitute automated customizedfood generation machines in response to the identification of the one ormore substitute automated customized food generation machines and inresponse to the determination that there is no capable automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user.
 91. A computationally-implemented system, comprising: meansfor acquiring user preference information of a user that indicates oneor more customized food preferences of the user including at least oneor more ingredient integrity preferences related to integrity of one ormore ingredients; means for determining that there is no capableautomated customized food generation machine present in nearby vicinityof the user that is able to currently generate one or more customizedfood items in compliance with the one or more customized foodpreferences of the user; and means for identifying one or moresubstitute automated customized food generation machines present in thenearby vicinity of the user that are able to currently generate at leastone substitute customized food item that is only in partial compliancewith the one or more customized food preferences of the user. 92-180.(canceled)
 181. A system, comprising: circuitry for acquiring userpreference information of a user that indicates one or more customizedfood preferences of the user including at least one or more ingredientintegrity preferences related to integrity of one or more ingredients;circuitry for determining that there is no capable automated customizedfood generation machine present in nearby vicinity of the user that isable to currently generate one or more customized food items incompliance with the one or more customized food preferences of the userand circuitry for identifying one or more substitute automatedcustomized food generation machines present in the nearby vicinity ofthe user that are able to currently generate at least one substitutecustomized food item that is only in partial compliance with the one ormore customized food preferences of the user.